


House Party

by angiembabe



Category: Yugioh
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-18
Updated: 2018-07-29
Packaged: 2019-03-20 19:11:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 105,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13724178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angiembabe/pseuds/angiembabe
Summary: The gang have not been to Bakura's apartment since their last visit almost resulted in them perishing during a game of Monster World. Not wishing to upset Ryou, they accept an invite to his birthday party. They end up staying for a sleepover and wake up to discover that Jonouchi has been turned into a woman. Can Jonouchi and his friends deal with this sudden unexpected change? And how will a certain CEO react when he meets the beautiful Katsu?





	1. The Invite

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a bit of a departure from what I usually write about. I have actually been writing it, on and off, for about a year now but keep talking myself out of publishing it because it features content I could never imagine myself writing! It will be dark comedy - at least, I hope it's funny - and there will be quite a bit of smut, bad language and some embarrassing moments that will probably make you cringe.
> 
> It will be manga based, so there will be mentions of characters that appeared during the first seven volumes of Yugioh, along with references to some of the events that occurred.
> 
> If you are wondering where in the timeline it fits, I'm basing it just after they return from Dueilist Kingdom, but before Battle City. I don't think I remember a time frame being mentioned to how much time passed between the two, so I think it is feasible that it could have been at least a few months between tournaments - plenty of time for the gang to get up to all sorts of mischief.
> 
> The main focus is on puppyshipping! But no story is ever complete without a few cute peach/revo/puzzle moments, so there will be some of those too. Ryou Bakura and his nasty alter ego also feature heavily, but not romantically.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Yugi had arrived at school early this morning, and was sitting quietly at his desk jotting a few strategies for his new deck on a notepad, when Ryou Bakura approached him.

"Good morning Yugi!"

In response, Yugi closed his notepad and glanced up, smiling. "Hi Bakura!"

Ryou peered inquisitively at the notepad. "What were you writing Yugi?" To some people, asking a question like that might have come across as nosy, but Ryou's mannerisms, and his unique way of sounding like an innocent child, made him seem unobtrusive.

Yugi chuckled. "I'm just working on some new ideas to improve my deck. There's some awesome new cards being released and I need to stay ahead of everyone else."

"Oh! May I see? Only, I'm building a deck too. And I would be grateful for some tips as I have no idea what I'm doing!"

Yugi became more guarded, and he placed his palms over his notebook, pulling it under his forearms, protectively. "Sorry!" He grinned, apologetically. "But a true duelist never reveals his strategies. I'm happy to give you some tips on building your deck though. What theme are you using?" Ryou gave him a baffled look, so he elaborated. "You know... dragons, spell-casters, machine type, warriors..."

Ryou put his index finger to his mouth in thought. "Well, I like horror and the occult. So I guess you could say my deck is based around that."

The look Yugi gave him was one of mild amusement mixed with disbelief. He could never fathom how someone so gentle, shy and softly spoken would have a taste for the most gruesome of horror films and be so interested in the supernatural. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, sure. Bring your deck round after school and I will give you some tips on how to use it."

"Thank you Yugi." Ryou smiled at him sweetly. "Erm.. I also wanted to mention... It's my birthday tomorrow. I was thinking of having a get together on Saturday night and I was wondering... do you think many people would be interested in coming? Only I don't really have that many friends."

"What about your fangirls?" Yugi chuckled.

Ryou's face turned a soft shade of pink. "I am not really sure if I want any of them there. To tell you the truth, some of the girls frighten me a bit!"

Yugi raised an eyebrow in response. How could girls liking you be frightening? If only girls would show some interest in him! But then again, Anzu might not let them get that close. Yugi gave him a cheesy grin. "I would love to come to your party. I'm sure the rest of the gang would too." He eyed Bakura's chest suspiciously. "Just as long as you don't wear the Ring. You're not wearing it now are you?"

"No! Of course not!" Ryou grinned sheepishly and lowered his voice so that no one else could hear them talking. "I won't let him lure you all into another trap, like last time."

"Hey Yuge! Kura! Wossup?!" Jonouchi appeared with Honda in tow and slapped Ryou on the back, making the teen flinch.

"Bakura was just asking if we wanted to go to his party on Saturday? It's his birthday tomorrow," Yugi answered.

Jonouchi looked a bit concerned. He still remembered the last time they visited Ryou's apartment to play Monster World. They had all ended up trapped inside their miniature game pieces, along with their Physical Education teacher; Mister Karita. Luckily, with the help of the other Yugi, they had defeated the Game Master and his avatar in the game; Dark Lord Zorc, freeing the spirits who had been trapped. "Yeah... I guess! Just as long as you promise not to invite any creepy spirits that try to steal our souls?"

Bakura scratched his head and looked embarrassed. "It will just be a party. I have a new 50 inch flat screen monitor. I was planning to show some of my favourite horror films. Bring your overnight bags and we can make it a movie night!"

At the mention of horror films, Jonouchi shrieked. "Horror films!"

Smirking, Honda slapped his best pal on the back and locked his arm around his shoulders. "Please don't frighten him! He always starts screaming like some hysterical fan girl," he teased.

"I don't scream like a girl, you jerk!" He playfully shoved his friend off, only to be shoved back. He then grabbed Honda by the collar and the pair started fighting, a little too aggressively.

Anzu chose that moment to arrive, fearlessly stepping between the pair to prise them apart. "Quit fighting you two and grow up!" Pouting, they did as they were told but could not resist one final little jostle for supremacy, before settling back into the conversation about the party.

Excited by the idea of a movie night, Anzu politely suggested that they could each bring a film, so that they would have something that might appeal to everyone's taste, but Bakura said that he already subscribed to Netflix and that there was a werewolf film, that wasn't too gory, which he really wanted to see.

"Seriously?!" Jonouchi continued. "Werewolves on your birthday? That's disturbed!"

"Don't be so rude Jonouchi!" Anzu slapped the back of his head. "Apologise to Ryou."

"Why should I apologise for not liking horror films? I'm not the one who's a freak!" He looked at his friends pleadingly. They were glaring at him."You'll back me up, won't you Yuge?"

Yugi shook his head. "Sorry Jonouchi! It isn't nice to call someone disturbed and a freak."

Jonouchi let out a loud huff. "I'm... sorry Bakura..." he lowered his voice and mumbled. "But I still think it's disturbing."

The bell rang and the teacher walked in. Everyone rushed to their desks and sat down.

Yugi zoned out as the teacher waffled on about a group of students who had been seen outside of school, disrespecting the uniform and therefore disrespecting the honour of the school...

"Other Me?" Yugi mentally called through their link.

After a few seconds, the Spirit responded. "You called, Aibou?" His transparent form appeared, hovering in a seated position on the edge of Yugi's desk, with his arms folded.

"I was just thinking. Do you think we can trust Bakura? I mean, I trust our Bakura, I'm just not sure about the other Bakura."

"Are you worried after what happened last time?"

"No! Not worried exactly. Although, I guess I am a bit concerned about going to his apartment again."

"Hmmm.." The Other Yugi looked thoughtful. "It would be unkind to Bakura if we don't go, but we should be on our guard. The spirit that dwells within the Ring is dangerous, and inviting us all to his apartment for a 'move night' could be a ploy to lure us into another trap. But I am curious as to who the spirit might be! He may have some valuable information about who I am, or once was."

"I know you want to know who you are, but is there really any hurry? I already told you! I'm more than happy to share my memories with you."

Thank you Yugi, but..." How did he tell the boy who's body he depended on for his survival, that he needed to know what sort of man he had been during his lifetime. Even if his own memories turned out to be bad, without them he knew he would never be able to find peace. Grandpa had told them that the Puzzle was three thousand years old and that it had been found in a Pharaohs' tomb. Was he in some way related to that Pharaoh? Or had he been punished by the Pharaoh and imprisoned inside the Puzzle? He kept these innermost thoughts to himself because they were dark and they frightened him. But, he still needed to know the truth.

"Mister Mutou?!" The teacher's impatient voice and the laughter of his classmates snapped Yugi back to reality.

And even though the Spirit knew that no one could see him, he still felt as if he had been exposed to the whole class. Feeling guilty for getting Yugi into trouble, he retreated back inside the Puzzle and severed his connection to Yugi.

"Well?!" The teacher said, sharply. "We are all interested to know who you wish to share your memories with?"

"Erm..." Yugi squirmed in his seat, his face contorted somewhere between a grimace and an embarrassed smile. "Sorry! I must have dozed off and was dreaming." He wished he could just vanish inside the Puzzle like his other Self had just done. But that was not possible so he sat there with his face as red as a beetroot.

The whole class erupted with laughter and Yugi knew that some of his classmates were making cruel remarks about him being a weirdo and a space cadet.

The day had only just started and he had already made a complete fool of himself.

::::::::::::

When the morning lessons finally ended, Yugi could not wait to get outside. What had happened this morning had been so embarrassing.

Anzu ran to catch up with him as he escaped onto the roof, away from the teasing and cruel remarks being made by his peers. "It's okay Yugi. Don't let them get to you. I understand." She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"You do?" Yugi cheered up a bit when Anzu touched him! She cared about him.

"Of course," she winked, making him blush. "You were talking to the other Yugi, weren't you?"

Yugi nodded. "I try to talk to him with my mind, but I'm still learning and not always very good at it, yet. I didn't realise I had spoken out loud."

"It's okay, you didn't say much. Just, 'I'm more than happy to share my memories with you'."

Yugi cringed. That was bad enough.

"How is he, by the way?" Her voice had a slightly giggly, fangirl edge to it and she was blushing. Yugi nearly huffed in annoyance; she was more interested in how his other Self was feeling than she was in him.

"Alright!" He shrugged. "I asked if he thinks we should go to Bakura's party. He said we should. That's all."

"Oh! Okay." Anzu went quiet. She wanted to talk about the other Yugi, or even speak directly with him, but the look on Yugi's face and his tone of voice said that he was finished talking about his other Self.

Feeling a little chastised, she pulled her bento box out of her bag and glanced at Yugi's backpack. "What have you brought for lunch?" She asked brightly, keen to lighten the slightly strained atmosphere between them.

"I don't know," he admitted, cheering up again. "Mum packed it." He sat down on the ledge, opened his backpack and pulled out his lunch. "Looks like chicken, rice and pickled vegetables.

"I have seafood with noodles and shredded vegetables." She offered her bento box to Yugi and they split the contents of each lunch box between them. Anzu made a contented noise. "Your mother makes nice pickles."

"It's actually Grandpa who makes them," he chuckled. He was already over his annoyance from a moment ago and shuffled a little closer to her so that their bodies were virtually touching. It was nice having quality time with her on his own, without the other guys.

Just then, the door to the roof burst open and Jonouchi, Honda and Ryou appeared. "Thought we'd find you two lovebirds up here!" Jonouchi grinned.

"We're not lovebirds!" Anzu retorted rather forcefully, causing Yugi to glance at her with a hint of disappointment.

"We're a bit late joining you because Bakura had to escape his fangirls," Honda chuckled. "Don't know why he wants to escape though? I would love it if girls kept chasing me!"

"They become a little over bearing after a while. I like my privacy," Ryou defended.

"Sure you ain't gay Bakura?" Jonouchi snickered. "Girls can chase me, anytime!"

Anzu rolled her eyes. "Yeah, with baseball bats."

Everyone started laughing, but Jonouchi was not amused. "You lot can mock all you like. They're just a little nervous around me because of my film star looks!"

"You are kidding, right?" Honda snickered.

"Yeah, I look like that guy from... from... Meh.. can't remember what he's called, but everyone goes crazy for his body and looks."

"You mean E.T?" Anzu teased, making everyone giggle.

"Nah! Wolverine," said Jonouchi, suddenly remembering who he meant.

"What?!" They all shrieked together.

"Is that why you always wear that dog costume to the Domino Festival?" Honda was looking for a reaction, but Jonouchi ignored him..

"I thought you said you didn't like films that had werewolves in them Jonouchi?" Ryou blinked, wide eyed.

"He's not a werewolf! And just because I don't look exactly like him, don't mean I ain't cool like him!" His comment was met by groans, laughter and shakes of the head.

"Keep dreaming, pup!" Honda slung a lazy arm over his shoulder and this time Jonouchi responded by trying to wrestle him to the ground while the others watched on with amusement.

Lunchtimes were often spent watching those two squabbling.

::::::::::::

The lunch break went by far too quickly and it was soon time to go back to the classroom. Geography should have been an enjoyable subject, but the thought of an afternoon with Miss Chono teaching it to them had them all in a bad mood and they delayed going back for as long as they could.

As usual, Ryou's fangirls were waiting for him outside the classroom and pounced on him as soon as he appeared.

Ryou visibly tensed when they offered to carry his bag, smooth his uniform, hold his hand and just about any other thing they could think of to get closer to him.

"I can carry my own bag thank you!" He clutched his satchel to his chest and made a beeline for his desk.

"Man... some guys have all the luck!" Honda complained. Yugi and Jonouchi, who were standing either side of him, both nodded and agreed. Anzu rolled her eyes at them.

Jonouchi suddenly thought of a cunning plan. Smirking, he sidled up to the girls surrounding Ryou, intent on executing his ill conceived plan.

One of the more forward girls was sitting on Ryou's desk and had hitched her skirt up so that the poor boy had a good view of her thigh, right up to the edge of her panties.

Jonouchi pushed his way into the pack of girls. "Hey, babes! Do ya think I'm sexy? D'ya wanna piece of this?" Jonouchi thrust his hips at them with a big smirk on his face. Wanting no part of his antics, his friends kept their distance and looked on in horror.

The Girls shrieked and ran behind Ryou in the hope that he would protect them. The girl on the desk stood up, smoothed down her skirt and called Jonouchi a 'pervert,' before stomping over to her own desk.

All the while, Ryou just sat there looking very embarrassed.

"You idiot!" Anzu muttered to Jonouchi, giving him a wide berth as she made her way to her own desk.

The door opened and Miss Chono walked in."Mister Jonouchi! What do you think you are doing?!"

Jonouchi ran to his seat and sat down. "Nothing Miss!" Oh boy! It was going to be a long afternoon.

"Dirty little teenagers! All of you!" They all knew what was coming next. "I want the contents of your bags tipped onto your desks. And by contents, I mean everything! Condoms, drugs, cigarettes; all the things you disgusting little creatures do when you think adults aren't watching."

She slowly walked the isles, scrutinising the items on each desk. She stopped at Jonouchi's desk expecting to find something good. This student was a grade 'A' loser. His father was an alcoholic gambler and they were skint. And given the boy's past as a gang member, she was bound to find drugs and perhaps even a knife.

She was mortified when all she found were his tatty books, sweet wrappers, a couple of chewed pens, a broken pencil and a pack of Duel Monsters cards. Still, she could probably still use this grotty looking mess as an example.

Her eyes honed in on the pack of cards, which seemed to be the only thing that was not dirty or torn. The boy obviously treasured them. "What are these?" She held them up for everyone to see.

The sound of students all muttering filled the classroom, causing Miss Chono to shriek at them to be quiet. "Does anyone else have trading cards?" The guilty looks and general fidgeting confirmed her suspicions that she had just uncovered the latest craze among the students.

Smirking, she took out a large carrier bag and ordered the students to hand over all of their cards so that she could destroy them.

Jonouchi snatched his cards out of her hand before she could drop them into her bag. "You can take any of my stuff you want, but I won't allow you to take my cards," he hissed.

At his reaction, the look on Miss Chono's face turned to utter delight. He had shown her a lack of respect by answering her back. She had been banned from expelling any more pupils but that did not mean that she couldn't at least suspend him. "You are suspended for one week Mister Jonouchi. Pick up your rubbish and leave the classroom."

Yugi could not allow her to do that and stood up. "You can't suspend Jonouchi! He hasn't done anything wrong!"

She spun round and smirked at the pile of what she perceived to be rubbish on his desk. "Mister Mutou! I see that you also have trading cards..." She suddenly hesitated. The last time she had confronted this pathetic little boy, something strange had happened. She could not quite remember what exactly, but it had ended with her being humiliated in front of the whole class. However, she could not let that incident frighten her into backing down. "Hand them over!"

She did not see the sudden change in Yugi's demeanour and nearly jumped out of her skin when a deep, sinister voice. "And what if I refuse?"

The smirk on his face told her that he was challenging her. "Then you are also suspended."

Before Yami Yugi could teach her yet another lesson, Bakura stood up. "Excuse me Miss? But with all due respect, I think you are overstepping your duties as a teacher." His face went bright red when everyone gasped and turned to look at him.

"Is that so Mister Bakura?" Forgetting Yugi, she waltzed over to Bakura's desk and the smirk on her face grew so big that her make-up almost cracked when she saw that he also had some cards on his desk.

When she reached to swipe them up, his hand slammed over hers. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he snarled.

She gulped when she saw the scar on the back of his hand where the turret of the model castle had gone right through. She had heard Mister Karita talking with the janitor when she had gone outside for a crafty cigarette. He had been saying that Bakura was unstable and that he had stabbed himself over losing a game! She had thought that the pig headed, self centred rat of a Physical Education teacher (he had refused to date her) was lying. But as she looked at Bakura's face and saw the icy cold lavender eyes boring into her, she started to think that Karita might be right. The usually soft, kind face was twisted into a vicious snarl and his hair looked like it was sharp enough to pierce her skin.

The ring flashed so quickly that no one, except Yugi, noticed it, and Miss Chono collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

Instantly back to normal, Ryou was the first to rush to her side. "Oh dear! You shouldn't have threatened me like that," he whispered to her.

Guessing what had happened, Yami Yugi quickly ran over to him. "Bakura! What have you done?" He kept his voice to a whisper so that the rest of his rather confused classmates could not hear.

"I.. I erm... She was threatening everyone. I think she became so irate that she overheated and passed out."

The rest of the class were starting to panic. They had no understanding of what had really just happened to Miss Chono, and even though they all hated her, they could not let her die.

Someone started shouting that she had suffered a heart attack and quickly ran off to fetch one of the other teachers.

An ambulance was called, the class was cancelled and the students were all told to go to the sports hall and wait there.

By the time they reached the sports hall, Ryou was flustered and distressed. Yugi and his friends ushered him into a corner, away from the other kids.

"What's going on Bakura?" Honda demanded.

"They are bound to start suspecting me. The records from my last school will show that this keeps happening to people who try to hurt me or who get too close. I don't want to, but I'm going to have to leave again."

"She did not have a heart attack, did she, Bakura. What have you done to her?" said Yugi, calmly but sternly. His first thought was that he had placed her soul into one of his miniature figures.

Ryou looked nervous as he tentatively pulled a Duel Monsters card out of his pocket. "I don't know how to stop him from doing it," he sniffed, turning the card over to show Miss Chono's face on the card. Yugi's face remained calm but his friends all blinked in surprise.

Anzu's hands flew to her face in horror. "Where did you get a blank card from?" She gasped.

"I found them laying around in Pegasus' castle. He must have dropped them," he lied, not wanting to have to tell them that he had taken them from Pegasus when he stole his Millennium Eye.

"I know she's a witch, but that's going a bit too far Bakura!" said Jonouchi.

"This is what Pegasus did to my grandfather and the Kaiba brothers! You have to release her Bakura," Yugi ordered, as gently as he could.

Ryou smiled at Yugi sheepishly. "But he did it to save you Yugi! And you Jonouchi! If he hadn't you would have both been suspended."

"Bullshit! He did it to show Yugi he's still a menace," Jonouchi huffed.

Even though he was annoyed by Ryou's self pitying denial of the things his alter ego did, Yugi did not voice it. Instead, he frowned at Jonouchi and asked him to keep quiet. Keeping his voice calm and considerate, he turned back to Ryou. "Regardless of his reasons for imprisoning her, it is still wrong, and I think you know that. But if he really wants to protect you from repercussions and avoid any suspicion, then he should release her."

Big, watery brown eyes flickered between the accusing glares of his friends. Of course he wanted to release her! But it wasn't his fault that she had come over to him and threatened him. The Ring was only acting in self defence. They should think themselves lucky that The Ring had not killed them all.

 

That's it for the first chapter. I hope you liked it.


	2. Dark Alchemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter features some angsty Ryou, the other Bakura misbehaving, hints of season 0 Yami Yugi, smut, swearing and gender bending. Yes, you read correctly – gender bending!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh.

Returning home from school, Ryou dropped his bag, kicked off his shoes and irritably stomped in the direction of his kitchen. These days, he was not good at expressing his anger or emotions outwardly and always tended to internalise his problems. If anyone ever asked him how he was doing, he would put on a false smile and pretend that he was fine.

The last four years of his life had been spent in torment, while trying to avoid the intervention of the authorities and anyone else who thought they were helping him. None of them understood that if they interfered too much they would lose their souls. If they had any sense they leave him alone. He had already lost his loved ones and now he feared he would slowly lose his sanity.

But it had not always been like that: Once upon a time, he had been a happy outgoing boy, with lots of friends and a loving family. All that had changed when The Ring chose him as its wielder. The Ring was pure evil and the spirit that was trapped within had made him its host. And, with its control over him complete, it had slowly set about destroying everything in his life that was good.

But despite its control over him, he felt a connection to the Spirit of the Ring. There was a sadness deep within the spirit, giving Ryou the feeling that he had also experienced the painful and traumatic loss of his family. Whatever had happened to the spirit, had almost certainly turned him down a path leading towards darkness and despair.

Had the Ring chosen him, in the same way that it had now chosen Ryou? Had it forced him to do its evil bidding until it got bored and killed him, trapping his soul inside?

Ryou was generally an optimistic, sunny sort of person, and in no way did he want to let The Ring force him down the same path, and ultimately, destroy him.

Sighing, he opened the fridge and took out a carton of milk.

He was just about to pour some into a glass, when a voice inside his head spoke. "You think too much – host! Just relax and stop trying to fight me. I mean you no harm... just as long as you comply."

Ryou felt a sharp stab of pain behind his eyes, which he knew to be the Spirit reminding him of who pulled the strings, forcing him to flinch and pour milk all over the counter.

"Oh dear! Look who is being clumsy. Now you will have to clean up the mess." Snickering filled Ryou's head.

"Shut up!" He screamed, gripping the side of his head and falling to his knees. Sobs racked his skinny frame as he pleaded with it to leave him alone and stop hurting him and his friends.

"But that woman isn't your friend! She tried to expel you. You have already been forced out of three schools. We can't let that happen again now, can we?"

"Just let me fight my own battles. Let her go, please?"

"Give me one good reason why I should?"

"Because... because the authorities will be suspicious. My classmates saw everything."

"Stop worrying! I made sure they did not see anything suspicious. But if you wish, I can take their souls as well?"

"No! Yugi already knows about you and can stop you. He has a Millennium Item."

Evil laughter rang in his ears, threatening to split his skull. "The Pharaoh is weak. He doesn't even know who he is! He and his little vessel have no idea how to fully wield the power they hold. I could kill them both, just as easily as I could kill you now..."

"Then why don't you? Go on, kill me? I hate you. I hate you. You murdered my family and stole the souls of my friends. People avoid me and think I'm mad.. I lost everything because of you! I would rather be dead than be your puppet."

"I have no intention of killing you... yet! And I feel hurt that you hate me, because I like you. You and I are like brothers." There was a brief respite to the pain in Ryou's head, allowing him to stagger to his feet.

Sulkily, he snatched a cloth from the washing up bowl and started to wipe up the spilled milk.

The Spirit inside the Ring could feel him seething. Had he pushed his host too far again? If he was to succeed in his goal of gathering all of the Millennium Items together and return them to the stone tablet to reawaken his master, then he would need Ryou Bakura on his side. "I know!" He suddenly said, more cheerfully. "I will do something to show you that I am your friend. I will release that woman's soul from the card. What do you say?"

Ryou took in a deep breath and let it out loudly. "Fine!" He snapped. "Now, do you think you can leave me alone so that I can do my homework? I might not have much of a life, or a future, but you can at least let me pretend that I do."

The Spirit relaxed his hold, and Ryou felt the pain in his head and in his chest subside as the Ring cooled and relaxed against the brutalised skin on his chest.

He knew the spirit wanted him to say thank you, but there was no way he was going to do so.

Sitting down at his desk, he opened his laptop and started to work on his assignment. As he did so, he took a sneaky peek at the card containing Miss Chono's image and was relieved to see that it was now just a blank card again. At least the spirit had kept his word this time.

::::::::::::

The night of Bakura's party had arrived.

Although none of them would readily admit they were afraid of going into Bakura's apartment on their own, they all agreed that it would be better if they met up somewhere else first, and then go together – there was safety in numbers!

Jonouchi and Honda turned up at the meeting point carrying several cans of beer, causing Anzu to frown at them disapprovingly. "Where did you get that from? You're not even old enough to buy it!"

Jonouchi grinned at her. "My old man has been sending me out to the store to buy his booze for years. The shop keeper knows me and always sells it to me."

"Well, don't you dare get drunk," she scolded.

"We won't. It's not all for us anyway! We plan to share..." Honda began, with a smirk.

"Yeah," Jonouchi interrupted. "If we give some to Ryou's fan girls, they might get a bit frisky and let us...Ow!" He was stopped abruptly when Anzu slapped him.

"Don't you dare!" She levelled her glare at them both.

Not impressed at their plan either, Yugi frowned. "I don't think it's a very good idea to get them drunk. And besides, we need everyone to stay sober in case the Ring tries anything."

Jonouchi threw an arm over Yugi's shoulder. "Stop worrying Yuge! We were only joking about the girls," he winked. "Our real plan is to give Bakura a couple a beers. Maybe then that damn spirit will be too drunk to try anything."

"That's also a terrible plan," Anzu huffed and grabbed Yugi's arm. "Come on guys, we don't want to be the last ones there."

When they arrived, they were a little disappointed, but not surprised to see that there was no one else at the party.

"Are we the only people here Bakura?" Even though he had already guessed they might be, Yugi still had to ask.

"I don't know if anyone else is coming," said Ryou, a little sadly. "Apart from the girls that follow me around, no one seems to like me all that much. I can't blame them after the other day."

"That's not true Bakura! Of course they like you. And apart from us, no one knows what you did to Miss Chono. They all think she got so uptight that she fainted," said Anzu.

Ryou's shoulders slumped. "But it hasn't just been Miss Chono. I'm sure they all still remember what happened to Mister Karita, the janitor and the shop keeper that caught me shoplifting."

"You were shoplifting?!" Jonouchi laughed. "That's awesome man! I never knew you..." He faltered when everyone gave him death glares.

"It wasn't me," said Ryou, sadly. "He made me do it. But some kids from school were there and saw what happened. It was humiliating."

Feeling sympathy for him, Anzu rubbed his shoulder. "I'm sure they don't think badly of you Ryou. Some of the kids might even think shoplifting is cool."

"Yeah, like kids in gangs," Jonouchi snickered.

Yugi grimaced at his friend. As much as he liked Jonouchi, he could be pretty tactless at times and had the capacity to make some pretty insensitive remarks. He cringed further at the next comment.

"Anyway, lets forget Miss Chono – she's a hag. What about some really cute chicks? Where are they? You did invite them, didn't you Bakura?"

Before Bakura could answer that he had not asked any of his 'fan girls', Anzu slapped Jonouchi for the second time that evening. "It is disrespectful to call women 'chicks' Jonouchi!" she scolded. "And anyway, don't I count? Or don't you think of me as female?"

"Ow! Geez Anzu! You certainly punch like a guy!" Jonouchi rubbed his head sheepishly. "Anyway, you're our friend... and besides, you're Yugi's chi... I mean... girl..frrr..." he trailed off when he saw Yugi and Anzu blushing and glaring furiously at him. "Yeah... Who wants a beer?"

Ryou tried to explain that it was not meant to be an alcoholic party but Jonouchi and Honda were not really listening.

"Where's your bottle opener?" Jonouchi didn't wait for Bakura to answer. He had already started rummaging about in the kitchen drawers until he found one.

"Anzu and I brought some snacks with us." Yugi handed Ryou the bag containing various party nibbles.

Ryo blushed. "Thank you, but you shouldn't have. I have been baking."

"Oh! Well, with those two around you can never have enough food." Anzu tutted, craning her neck to peer into the kitchen, where Jonouchi and Honda were already helping themselves to the food Ryou had prepared.

Yugi and Ryou both rolled their eyes when Jonouchi yelled from the kitchen with his mouth full. "Hey Kura, these are good!"

Honda found some glasses and poured some beer for everyone. Yugi was unsure but accepted it because he did not want to look sissy.

"Where is my beer?" Anzu enquired.

"Since there's no girl action, the beer is for the boys. There's some soft drinks in the fridge for girls and wimps," Jonouchi grinned.

"What's got into you lately? You have such a sexist attitude!" Anzu retorted, angrily.

"It's not that! It's just... the beer was expensive and I don't want to share it all out if you don't like drinking it!" He glared at Honda, who had suggested sharing.

"Who said I don't like it?!" Anzu grumbled.

"You can share mine Anzu," Yugi offered. The glass he had been given was a pint glass and he did not think he could manage all of it on his own anyway.

"It's alright Jonouchi. I am happy with lemonade," Ryou smiled, politely.

"We all clubbed together and bought you a present Ryou." Anzu handed him the neatly wrapped gift. It was quite large and Ryou beamed happily when he opened it to find a new board to add to his Monster World game. "How did you know I building an Egyptian themed board?" The fools have no idea that I will use it to destroy the Pharaoh, the spirit inside the ring cooed to himself.

Ryou went to put the new game board in his study, while the group of friends all made themselves comfortable with their plates of food.

Several minutes later Ryou returned and turned on his new television.

"Man, that's huge!" Jonouchi marvelled.

"We have one that size too," Honda boasted.

While they were all talking and comparing television sizes, Ryou pulled up the menu and chose the film he had downloaded. "I thought we could watch Zombie Killers Invade Tokyo! What do you think? It is a low budget horror made by an up and coming young film maker from Sapporo." Everyone was silent. "It's really good," he added.

"It's your birthday. We will watch whatever you want Bakura. Isn't that right guys?" Anzu did not want to watch the ghastly film but did not want to hurt his feelings.

There was some muttering and grumbling from Jonouchi and Honda but it was Yugi who had the final word. "Yes, we are happy to watch it Bakura."

They settled down as the rather dodgy looking introduction came up. The film was beyond bad, but it was full of overly explicit gory moments and such hilariously bad scene cuts, that were so unrealistic and stupid, that it made them all fall about with laughter.

They sat through three more terrible horror films, and by two in the morning everyone was starting to fall asleep so they decided to call it a night.

Bakura offered Anzu his bed, while he dossed down on the sleep mats, which he had laid out on the sitting room floor for the boys. "Thank you, but I'm quite happy to sleep on the floor with you guys." It would also be a good excuse to cuddle up with Yugi.

Knowing that it might end up as a sleepover, everyone had remembered their overnight bags. Everyone that is, except Jonouchi. "I forgot! Okay?!"

"How can you forget when I reminded you at four o'clock this afternoon you moron!" Honda chided.

"Well, I don't wear nothing in bed anyway!"

"Ugh! That's disgusting Jonouchi. You better not get your naked body near me!" Everyone screwed their faces up at Anzu's comment.

"I will keep my boxers on, alright!" In the end, Ryou lent him some pyjamas and found him a brand new toothbrush, that he kept as a spare.

After brushing their teeth and changing into their nightwear, They snuggled down on the two large foutons.

Anzu took one end of the futon, with Yugi next to her. Jonouchi lay down between Yugi and Honda, while Ryou settled down on the other end.

Yugi lay on his side facing Anzu and smiled to himself. It was nice being this close to her. She had her back to him and he could smell the delicate scent of the Mango and coconut shampoo she had used on her hair. He wanted to put his arms around her and press himself into her body but was too shy.

Ryou turned the light out, leaving the room in darkness. "Arghh... too dark!" Jonouchi shrieked, throwing his arms over Yugi and holding him far too tightly for comfort.

"J.. Jonou..." Yugi coughed. "... strangling... me!" Yugi's romantic thoughts about Anzu had been completely ruined.

Ryou leaped up and quickly flicked on the lamp back. When Honda saw that Jonouchi was practically laying on top of Yugi and had his arms wrapped so tightly around him he was almost crushing him, he started to laugh. "Quit trying to make out with Yugi you moron!"

"I'm not, dick head! It wasn't my idea to show scary horror films! I was suddenly freaked out!"

"If it helps, I will leave a night light on. It will create a very faint glow." Ryou went over to the wall socket and plugged in a small lamp. It was the sort of night light you would normally place in a child's room at night to stop them being afraid.

Everyone agreed that it was not too bright and that they would be fine with the night light, they settled back down.

::::::::::::

The Spirit of the Ring had stayed quietly inside his landlord tonight, but now it was time for some fun.

That idiot Jonouchi was getting on his nerves slightly more than usual and he had suddenly come up with a wickedly good idea.

Taking over his host, he made Ryo pluck a few loose hairs from Jonouchi's discarded sweatshirt and pick up one of his socks, before going into the kitchen. He gathered up some herbs and then tiptoed to his bedroom. On the way, he met Anzu, who was a light sleeper and had been woken up by the sound of him closing the cupboard door. For a moment he tensed, but then relaxed when she whispered that she was just going to the bathroom.

He quickly softened his features and gave her a timid smile. "I'm going to sleep in my own bed," he mouthed. "Honda keeps snoring and kicking me. I cant sleep." Thankfully, Anzu accepted his explanation and nodded. He was quite relieved that he would not have to harm the girl – she was quite cute, for a human.

Once in his room, he locked the door and sat down on the floor cross legged. He sprinkled a mixture of oak, thyme and devils claw onto the floor to form a triangle and sat in the middle of it. Taking a bowl, he mixed it with a small onyx crystal, some heather, myrrh and juniper. He set light to the contents and waited until it had a good flame. He then muttered some words in an ancient tongue and dropped Jonouchi's hair and sock onto the flame. There was a flash and a small tendril of magic floated upwards and formed a long thin line. It then headed for the gap under the door and sought out it's target.

The tendril entered Jonouchi through a nostril. It tickled his nose a little, making him sneeze and rub his nose, but he soon settled back down again.

::::::::::::

Yugi woke up to the warm soft feeling of Anzu's hair tickling under his chin. Yugi was on his back and Anzu had somehow ended up using his upper chest as a pillow. While still asleep, he had gently wrapped his arms around her. He could feel her softly breathing against him and it made him feel all fuzzy and warm inside. It would have been lovely to stay like this but he was desperate to go for a pee and could not move without waking her up. He glanced at his wrist watch and tried not to groan when he saw that it was still only six fifteen in the morning.

Unable to wait much longer, he tried to slide out but she mumbled and hugged her Yugi pillow tighter.

Not only did he need to pee, he was now starting to get an erection. Curse his sixteen year old hormones.

After several minutes of him gently trying to prise her arm from his waist, Anzu sighed and rolled off him, settling down on her side with her back to him.

He crawled to the end of the futon and dashed to the bathroom.

He was still desperate for a pee, but thanks to his erection it was too difficult and he had to wait for it to go down a bit. He was thankful that the Pharaoh was asleep inside the Puzzle and was not witnessing his embarrassing problem.

Bladder relieved, he washed his hands and took a drink of water, before tiptoeing back to the futon.

He did not notice anything different about Jonouchi as all he could see in the dingy light, was a tuft of straw blond hair sticking out from under the blankets.

He snuggled back down facing Anzu and got as close to spooning her as he could, without actually touching her.

After what felt like hours of trying to get back to sleep, he was finally dozing back off when he heard what he thought sounded like a woman shouting. Everyone was woken by it.

"What the fuck you doing man...?!" Jonouchi screamed, in a voice that was unnaturally high pitched.

Honda had been in a lovely sleep. In his dream, he was naked and being caressed by Miho, who was also naked. Her soft breasts rubbed against him and as he reached out to touch them, he was suddenly woken up by someone hitting him and swearing at him. He was horrified at what he thought he could feel. Was his dream that good that he could actually imagine he was holding real breasts?

"Quit trying to grope me ya pervert!" No one recognised the female voice and they were all confused by it.

Ryou appeared from his room and flicked on the light. Everyone took a moment for their eyes to adjust to the brightness.

Yugi's jaw dropped.

Honda gasped and held up his hands in an apologetic manner. He was so horrified by what he saw that he was rendered completely speechless.

"Oh my God!" Anzu gasped, hands pressed together over her face. "What has happened to you Jonouchi?!"

Trying not to panic, Ryou stood by the light switch and stared at the sight in front of him. Although his memory from during the night was patchy, he had some incline as to what might have happened. "Oh! No!" He finally gasped.

Jonouchi was still not sure why everyone was staring at him. He felt a bit dizzy, but that was usual when he woke up too quickly. "What's wrong guys?" At the sound, he slammed his hand over his mouth. That was not his voice. His hand felt small, soft and delicate.

Slowly removing his hand from his face, he looked down at himself. Two mounds appeared to be present on his chest. Instinctively, he cupped them in his hands, while his mouth hung open in shock and confusion.

Shaking like a leaf, he slid his hands down his body and under the waistband of his pyjama bottoms. What he found there made him scream. His penis and testicles were... gone, and had been replaced by... a vagina?!

He started to panic hysterically. "What the fuck has happened to me?!" There was a desperate pleading in his eyes as he looked between his horrified friends. "Help me guys?" He sounded so frightened and looked like he was about to cry.

None of them knew what to say or do. Everyone just stared, speechless, until Honda made a very crass suggestion.

"You can always grope yourself!"

"Why... you! That ain't funny..." Jonouchi's anger and confusion finally exploded. He needed to hit someone so he launched himself at Honda. But he had nowhere near the strength he would normally possess and Honda caught his fist with his hands, easily throwing Jonouchi onto his back and executing a wrestling hold to pin his friend down.

It was only when Honda felt the soft curves of Jonouchi's female body pressing against him, that he froze and did a double take. A twitch inside his pyjama trousers alerted him to the fact that his body was aroused by the soft female form in his grasp, and he almost let out a shriek as he released his friend and leapt backwards.

His behaviour did not go unnoticed by Jonouchi. "Argh! You freaking pervert!"

Blushing furiously, Honda attempted to apologise while burying his face in his hands with embarrassment.

Yugi wanted to console his friend and make everything okay, but did not know how to behave with his friend in that condition. He was scared to touch him. "I'm sure we will be able to find a cure Jonouchi," He said, unconvincingly.

Anzu attempted to make things a little better by putting her arm around Jonouchi's shoulders.

"Try not to worry Jonouchi. I will help you deal with your new... er.. body, while the guys try to find a cure."

Jonouchi gave her a forlorn look. "I'm screwed! My reputation will be ruined. I can't go home like this! I will be a laughing stock at school. What am I going to do?"

No one knew what to say. Desperate to help in any way she could, Anzu came up with the only solution she could think of. "You can stay at my house while we try to find a cure. My parents have never met you so I can tell them you are an exchange student from another school."

"But what about Me? Jonouchi can't just vanish!"

"It won't come to that," said Yugi. "We will work out what's going on, I promise." This had to be some sort of Shadow Game.

He felt the presence of his other Self materialise beside him.

"Strange, don't you think Aibou?"

Still self conscious about conversing with the Spirit of the Puzzle, even in front of his friends, Yugi spoke using his mind. "Other Me?"

"I sense residual Shadow Magic coming from Bakura's bedroom."

Yugi looked across at Bakura, who was standing quietly, looking very nervous. "Do you think the Millennium Ring might have something to do with it?"

"I do. Would you like me to take control and challenge him?" With a slight nod, Yugi gave control to the other Yugi. No one noticed the change.

"Bakura! What have you done to Jonouchi?" Everyone startled at the accusing tone in Yugi's deep baritone voice, and then noticed that the other Yugi had taken over.

"I.. I don't know what you mean! Why a.. are y y you accusing me Yugi?"" Ryou was stuttering nervously, adding to Yugi's suspicion. The Spirit of The Ring decided to keep quiet and let his host deal with the fallout of his actions. There was no point in drawing attention to himself right now.

Yugi got up and marched to Ryou's bedroom and threw open the door. The items had been cleared away but there was still a strong smell of burnt herbs, along with a scorch mark on the wooden floor, that had been poorly concealed by a rug. His friends followed him into Ryou's bedroom.

"Man! What is that smell?!" Honda frowned. "You haven't been smoking something weird, have you?" At Honda's suggestion, they all looked worryingly at Ryou.

"I am sorry. I sometimes smoke herbal tobacco. It calms my nerves." He hung his head in shame. He had no idea why he was lying like this. It was as if something, or someone, was compelling him.

Yami no Yugi snarled in disbelief and pulled back the rug to reveal the worst of the scorching. "You lie! I can sense Shadow Magic."

"I.. I had an accident and knocked the pipe over! Here, look! I'm telling the truth." He opened the wardrobe and pulled out the ornately decorated hubble-bubble pipe his father had bought at a bazaar in Cairo. However, as Yugi checked it, there was no evidence that it had been used.

He huffed in annoyance, and sensing his anger, Anzu placed her hand on his arm to calm him. "Yugi! It isn't magic. Ryou has a drug problem! We must help him."

"He is lying," Yami no Yugi almost snarled as he fixed his accusing glare on Ryou. The look was almost enough to cause Ryou's legs to collapse from under him.

"I'm so sorry!" He cried. "I couldn't help it. He made me do it!"

"Made you do what?!" Jonouchi shrieked, in a high pitched feminine voice. "Shit! My voice is terrible!" He grimaced at the sound and clasped his hands over his face in desperation.

"Yeah Bakura! What did ya do to my buddy?" Honda asked, accusingly.

"It was Him. I didn't want to." Ryou started crying. "I hate him! He is so cruel."

"It's okay Ryou." Anzu gave her friends a frown and stepped forward to place a comforting hand on the sobbing teens back. "What exactly did he make you do?"

Ryou's body suddenly stiffened and Anzu was certain she felt the vertebrae under her hand pop. Bakura stood upright and threw her aside.

"Get off me woman!" He spat, spitefully. Under his nightshirt, they could see the ring glowing. "I could kill you all now!" He snarled, viciously.

"Shit! He's wearing the Ring again!" Honda was not a coward but found himself fighting the instinct to cower and back away.

"C..can you f..feel that?!" Jonouchi stammered out at the immense feeling of static and power that was radiating off Bakura's chest. Yami no Yugi sensed an imminent attack.

"You filthy demon!" He spat. "How dare you hurt my friends!" He stepped forward to put himself between the possessed, white haired teen and his friends. The eye on his forehead started glowing and Anzu looked up at him fearfully, from where Bakura had shoved her to the floor.

There was genuine fear in her eyes as she pleaded for them to stop threatening each other.

But neither was listening to her as they bristled and snarled, like two lions fighting over a pride.

As the seconds ticked agonisingly by, Yugi's focus continued to remain on the demon in front of him. His friends watched in terror as he and Bakura were shrouded in black swirling shadows. Sparks of blinding white/gold magic flared away from their bodies, threatening to destroy the apartment.

Then just as suddenly, the Magic surrounding Bakura dissipated. For a moment, Yami no Yugi continued to be surrounded by his energy and showed no sign of backing down. "I should end you now.. vermin! But before I do, who are you?"

Bakura looked at him with an evil grin. "You are more powerful than I thought! That little vessel you inhabit must be stronger than he looks. Whereas mine is pathetic. I will not tell you who I am. But go ahead and kill me. I will not defend myself. But if you do, you will also be killing him."

"Don't try to bluff me, demon!" Yami no Yugi snarled.

"No! Yugi, please!" Anzu leaped up from the floor and ran to him. She might have been afraid by the shadows and flame that covered his form but she knew that Yugi would never hurt her. "Please?" She put her arms around him. He felt hot and tense. Every muscle in his body felt like it would explode. "Ryou is our friend. Whatever that thing inside the Ring made him do, it wasn't his fault. Ryou didn't mean to hurt Jonouchi."

As the shadows and flames slowly retreated back into the Puzzle, Yugi seemed to physically deflate. The golden eye on his forehead disappeared and he blinked in embarrassment at the anger he had just exhibited.

"It's okay Anzu," he breathed. "I will not harm him. But he is responsible for Jonouchi's condition and I demand he reverses it."

Bakura's shoulders rounded into a hunched position and he appeared to be laughing. They all looked at him with concern. But when he glanced up at Yugi and Anzu, the steely eyes cleared, returning to Ryou's hazel ones, and his hair softened and gently fell about his shoulders. He appeared to be trembling and perspiring from the assertion. "W.. what happened? D.. did he hurt you?"

Yami no Yugi also retreated and Anzu barely even noticed that Yugi was now back in control.

"It's okay Ryou, it's me, Yugi. I am not going to hurt you. Can you remember the spell that the Spirit of the Ring used to make Jonouchi into a woman?" Ryou shook his head.

"I'm sorry. All I remember, is getting up and going to the kitchen. I did not know why I was doing it, but I started gathering herbs and spices." He blushed. "I think I collected some of Jonouchi's hair and a sock. I don't know what happened after that. I woke up on my bedroom floor, surrounded by ash and smoke. I cleaned it away as best I could and got into my bed."

Anzu gasped. "I saw you!" All eyes were suddenly on her, making her blush. "I got up to use the bathroom and he came out of the kitchen." She paused to think. "You said that you couldn't sleep because Honda was kicking you and snoring in your ear. You were going to sleep in your own room."

"Oh!" Ryou looked embarrassed. "I sort of remember that. I don't know why I lied. It must have been him influencing me."

"Is there a spell that will reverse what He did to me?" Jonouchi pleaded.

Ryou bit his lip. "I can hear him in my head. He says that it's not reversible. It is a once only spell and it will probably wear off in a month or so."

"You mean I'm stuck like this?!" Jonouchi shrieked.

"Only for a month," Ryou muttered quietly.

Jonouchi let out a cry of despair, collapsed onto the bed and started weeping. Little high pitched rasps came from him, or rather, her.

None of his friends knew what they should do! This was so not the rough, tough, boisterous friend they all knew and loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think.


	3. New Identity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Still stunned over Jonouchi's transformation, Yugi and Ryou have a little talk about their own alter egos, while Anzu comes up with a plan to get Jonouchi through his ordeal.

"I will make a pot of green tea," Ryou suggested, "It will help to calm everyone while we think about what to do."

"Go and help him Anzu." Honda ordered her. "We don't want him slipping anything into our tea."

"If I was going to do that, don't you think I would have put it in the pastries I made yesterday?" Ryou was feeling hurt by the lack of trust they had in him.

"Fair point," Honda conceded. "But go with him anyway."

"It's okay, I'll go," said Yugi, following Ryou into the kitchen. In truth, he was worried about Anzu being alone in the kitchen with him in case the Spirit of The Ring decided to hurt her.

Ryou looked ready to start crying again. "You know, I truly am sorry for what has happened to Jonouchi. I just wish I knew how to cure him."

Yugi was starting to feel sorry for him. "It's okay Bakura. I know it's not your fault. But I think you should try to avoid wearing the Ring. The spirit inside it is dangerous. He even scares the other me."

Ryou looked at him with sad eyes. "I tried to remove it, but..." He pushed the door closed and lowered his voice to a whisper so that the occupants of the sitting room could not hear, "Please don't be alarmed when I show you what happened." He undid the buttons on his pyjama shirt and revealed the ring embedded in his chest.

Yugi stumbled back against the counter and almost let out an audible gasp, but managed to put his hand over his mouth to stop himself. The other Yugi appeared beside him, looking just as horrified about it as Yugi. Neither of them knew what to say.

Ryou flinched at his shocked reaction and whispered. "I hate him. He's cruel and vicious and makes me hurt people." Tears welled up in Ryou's eyes. "And yet I am drawn to him in the same way that you are bonded to the spirit inside your Puzzle."

"Yeah, but the other Me would never do something like that to me!" Beside him, Yami Yugi felt shaken by what he saw. The Millennium Items certainly did have the potential to be evil. He shook his head solemnly as he remembered some of the punishments he had dished out to people, using Yugi as a vessel. If Yugi had been unnerved when he first started to suspect that something was amiss, and tried to stop him by removing the Puzzle, would he have done the same to Yugi?

He had not realised his thoughts were bleeding into Yugi's mind until Yugi scolded him. "Don't even think like that! I know you, and you would never do that to me."

"Yugi?!" Ryou was looking at him inquisitively. "Is something wrong?" He could see Yugi's facial muscles twitching and he had a slightly glazed look. Yugi had to be talking to his other Self.

"No! Nothing's wrong. I was just talking to the Other Me."

"Oh," he nodded knowingly, I thought you probably were. He has harmed other people too, hasn't he?" He sounded hopeful rather than accusing; as if he hoped to find some sort of kindred spirit.

Yugi became defensive. "I will admit, he has punished a few of our enemies. But it was only because he was protecting me. He was afraid that if something bad happened to me, he would be forced back into the darkness."

"My spirit also says he is protecting me from harm. We already know the items come from Egypt, but I wonder," said Ryou, wistfully. "Do you think they were once real people? Or are they dark entities that feed off our own low self esteem and negative emotions, in order to manifest themselves as reflections of ourselves? I mean, you and I are both similar, in that we are quiet and get picked on a lot."

"I used to think he was a much stronger version of me, that the Puzzle helped me to create, but I don't think that anymore. Since dueling Pegasus, I have been able to talk to the other Me, and we both think he is a real person, who was originally from Ancient Egypt, but somehow became trapped inside the Puzzle. Sadly, he has no recollection of how or why. Can you talk to your spirit, or remember anything after he takes over?" Yugi was intrigued to find out just how much his friend knew about who the souls residing inside their items once were.

"He sometimes whispers to me. But it is usually something evil or disgusting. He tries to make me do things I don't want to do, and when I refuse he causes me pain. I only remember the things he wants me to remember. One night, I woke up in an alley with blood on my hands, standing over a man who was dead on the ground with his heart ripped from his chest. The spirit whispered to me that I should thank him because I did not get raped. I don't even know how, or why, I was in the alley in the first place. But I had seen the man earlier. I had visited the gents toilets and had approached me and told me he thought I was 'pretty'. He must have followed me." His face was ashen and he looked terrified as he spoke.

Yugi tried not to show his horror at the admission and calmly asked. "Does your spirit know who he is?"

"I think he does but he won't say. I also think he knows who your spirit might be. But he says that the rules of the game state that he must not tell. I have no idea what he means by that!"

Yugi looked perplexed. "I guessed that he knows something when he interrupted my DDM game with Otogi. I don't know what he wants, or what he hopes to gain, but I don't think it's anything good."

Out in the sitting room, their friends were growing concerned at the length of time they had been gone.

Anzu anxiously chewed her finger nail. "I don't like it. They closed the door and I can't hear them talking."

Honda frowned. "I should go and check." He got up and strode over to the kitchen door. Pushing it open, he cautiously looked inside. "Hey! What's taking so long? Is everything alright in here?"

"Yes! We're almost done." Ryou smiled sweetly and picked up the pot of tea. "I was just waiting for it to brew."

"We were discussing how we might find a cure for Jonouchi," Yugi told him. Bending the truth always came easy to him.

"And did you think of anything?" Jonouchi called out from the sitting room.

"No. I am so sorry Jonouchi," said Ryou. His remorse was visible in the way he shakily carried the tray of drinks and placed it down on the coffee table. "I really wish I could help you but I don't have a clue how."

"But we will find a cure Jonouchi," Yugi stated positively. "Maybe we could ask Grandpa. He knows all sorts of stuff about Ancient Egypt. He might know some spells."

"No! I don't want anyone else to know about this!" Jonouchi retorted irritably.

::::::::::::

Since it appeared that they might be unable to find an immediate cure for Jonouchi's affliction, the group of teenagers decided to spend the morning trying to fathom a way of hiding his true identity and working out how he was going to get through the next month as a girl.

"Firstly, we need to think of a name for you," Anzu suggested. "How about Katsu?"

"Nah... sounds too much like Katsuya." Jonouchi shook his head. "People might get suspicious."

"I think it's as good name," Honda answered. "Easy to remember." Both Yugi and Ryou nodded that they thought so too.

"But even though I look like a girl, I'm still Me! Everyone's gonna know!" Jonouchi whined.

"I don't think they will know it's you Jonouchi," Ryou was certain. "How many people change into the opposite sex overnight? It's not possible. No one would believe it."

"Well, we know it's possible!" Jonouchi shrieked.

"That's because we know that shadow magic exists," Yugi explained. "Look at me?! Most people don't even notice when I change into the other Me! They just think I'm getting in the zone for when I duel"

"Yugi's right," Honda added. "Sure, you do resemble Jonouchi a bit, but that just means you could be a relative."

Jonouchi chewed her lip in thought. "Suppose I could be my cousin or something. I could use my mum's family name, Kawai."

"Isn't that your sisters last name?" Yugi was pretty sure he had heard Jonouchi refer to his sister as Shizuka Kawai.

"Yeah... Mum went back to using her own name after she and my old man split up. Ya know! It could work!" Jonouchi was suddenly sounding more positive about the whole situation.

"Okay, Katsu Kawai it is," Anzu concluded. "Now we need a cover story. I was thinking that you could be Jonouchi's cousin. You joined the student exchange programme and wanted to come to Domino because your cousin is here. I will tell my parents that you have nowhere to stay because Jonouchi's place is not suitable and your original family pulled out. I will say that as class representative, I stepped in. They will be proud of me for showing initiative and supporting the school's student exchange programme."

Jonouchi scowled. The story was getting more complicated by the minute. He would never remember all that!

Meanwhile, Yugi nodded his head enthusiastically. "That is a great idea Anzu."

"Meh... d'ya think it will work?" Jonouchi was sceptical. "Everyone will wonder where the real me is."

"It will have to work, otherwise you really will be screwed," said Honda, with a stern expression.

"Don't worry Jonouchi!" Said Yugi, supportively, "We'll think of something to explain your absence."

"In the meantime," Anzu added, "I need to make sure you know how girls should behave."

The scowl that Jonouchi gave her in response, dashed any hopes she was fostering about it being anything other than a nightmarish task.

"Just make sure you don't swear, fart, belch or behave like an untidy slob and you'll be fine." Unfortunately, Honda's attempt at humour failed to impress his distressed friend.

"Hey! I'm offended. I don't do any of them things!"

"I'm afraid you do man.. Oops!" Honda slapped his forehead. "Did I say man? I mean woman." Trying to inject some humour was his way of trying to deal with the situation.

"Fuck you! This ain't a joke!" Jonouchi swing a punch at Honda and the two started bickering like an old married couple.

Anzu sighed. What on earth was she taking on? If she was to make Jonouchi believable as Katsu, it looked like she was going to have her work cut out over the next month.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for this chapter being a bit short. It's just that it seemed a good place to end it.
> 
> Next chapter, Katsu ventures outside!


	4. Awkward Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Massive apologies! I suddenly wondered why I thought I was on chapter 10 when I was only up to chapter 9. I then realised that I had saved chapter 4 to preview and never posted it!

Awkward Moments.

The gang finished drinking their tea and prepared to leave Bakura's apartment.

Discreet or introverted had never been traits that could be applied to Jonouchi and they were all more than a little worried that he might do something that would draw too much attention to himself and blow his new identity wide open.

Anzu was already anxious about lying to her parents, and with their concerns that Jonouchi might behave inappropriately weighing far more heavily on her than it was her friends, she was becoming very nervous indeed. She had been brought up to show integrity and respect and to always be honest, but this situation with Jonouchi was not really something she could easily tell the truth about.

She tried to hide her concern but Yugi could almost see her quaking. He took her by the hand and could feel how clammy it was. "You okay?"

She shook her head in quick jerky movements. "Not really! I'm sure my parents will be okay about having Katsu to stay, but I just hope they don't contact the school to confirm it!"

"I'm sure they won't call the school," he said, hopefully. "There's no reason for them to suspect anything." He was trying to sound as reassuring as possible.

"But what if Jonouchi gives the game away? I mean... look at him!" Yugi turned around, just in time to see Jonouchi pulling at her crutch trying to adjust the boxer shorts, so that they were not uncomfortable.

"What?!" Jonouchi grumbled, "It feels weird. I'm not used to having a girls parts. It feels wet!"

Everyone pulled disgusting faces.

"Just try not to say anything else gross!" Anzu sighed in defeat.

They were just getting ready to venture outside, when Honda received a phone call from his sister, reminding him that he was supposed to be looking after his nephew today and that he was already late. He was not happy about being forced to leave Yugi and Anzu with the responsibility of getting Jonouchi home, but had no choice.

Jonouchi was mortified. "I was relying on you to give me a ride back to Anzu's! What if someone sees me like this?!" He looked down at his ill fitting clothes. His change in shape meant that his boxer briefs felt bunched up and pinched in all the wrong places and his jeans were now far too tight across the bum and hips, preventing him from doing the zip up, while the waist was now too big! Jonouchi's favourite tee-shirt hung like a baggy rag off what had once been broad shoulders and was far too long in the body – but at least it covered where he, or rather she, could not do up the zip on the jeans.

Jonouchi looked down at the two mounds that were very noticeable underneath the front of his/her tee-shirt. "Oh man! I'm a freak! What am I gonna do? Can't you at least find the time to give me a ride to Anzu's? Tell your sister the traffic is bad or something."

Honda shook his head apologetically. "Sorry! I'm already late as it is. And the traffic jam excuse doesn't cut it on a bike! If I'm not there in ten minutes, my sister will refuse to pay me for looking after Koji." He pulled his helmet on and hurriedly jumped onto his motorcycle and rode away, leaving Anzu and Yugi to console a despondent Jonouchi.

The trio glanced at each other for guidance. Yugi was quick to try and convince his friend that it would be okay walking home. "Just act normally and they won't even know it's you," he suggested, supportively. However, it was difficult for him not to look at Jonouchi's chest. His best friend had big boobs and wasn't wearing a bra. He could also see outline of nipples showing through the cotton shirt.

Jonouchi growled at him. "How can I act normal when you're staring at my tits Yuge!" Yugi cringed and his face went bright red. He quickly averted his eyes.

"I.. I.. was not!" He squeaked. "I was... was.. looking over your shoulder at the flashing sign on the street crossing!"

He knew it was a terrible fib when Anzu and Jonouchi both whined at him accusingly.

Yugi shrunk inside his hooded top. "I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I tried not to look, but... Jonouchi isn't wearing any.. hmm.. support." He touched his own chest to indicate what he meant. The chastising look he got from them both, made him cringe further at the knowledge that they thought he was being a pervert.

Despite feeling a little upset at Yugi for looking at Joouchi's breasts, Anzu continued on unperturbed. "Yugi is right about it being noticeable Jonouchi. We need to get you properly measured and fitted with a decent bra." She then added, "-we must also try to remember not to call you Jonouchi."

Yugi felt very sorry for his friend and tried not to laugh at the mortified look on Jonouchi's face at being told he would need to wear a bra.

The walk home was stressful. Jonouchi walked with his/her bag held firmly against his/her chest and was convinced that everyone they passed was staring at him, or her– he was already beginning to wonder if he was even thinking like a boy anymore!

"Come on Jonouchi! No one is looking at you." Yugi blurted out his name, far too loudly for Jonouchi's liking. Jonouchi glared at him.

"Stop calling me Jonouchi. I'm Katsu now," he hissed at Yugi.

"It doesn't matter what he calls you. If you keep acting like that, people will start to stare and wonder what's wrong," Anzu scolded. "Now, walk normally."

Scowling, Katsu straightened her posture and tried to blend in.

As they rounded a corner, they came face to face with two people they really did not want to see.

Yugi nearly snarled when when he heard the nasally snort. "Hello Yugi. Long time no see," sneered the short, bespectacled boy. Beside him, Ryuzaki chuckled obnoxiously.

Yugi was relieved that he had grown an inch or two recently and could now look down on the insect duelist. "Hello Haga, Ryuzaki."

"What's a runt like you doing with two hot chicks, Yugi?" Haga snickered.

"Yeah! And that hot chick wot looks like Jonouchi's sister, isn't wearing a bra!" Ryuzaki leered at her, while chortling and pointing his finger within an inch of Jonouchi's chest.

"Why you fucking little..." Jonouchi snarled and clenched her fists. But before she could launch a right hook at Ryuzaki, Anzu stepped forward.

"Back off you pair of weirdos. Unless you want Jonouchi to come and find you, I would suggest you leave Katsu alone. She's his cousin."

Both boys startled. "C..cousin?!" They stammered, simultaneously.

"Yes, cousin." Yugi stepped up beside Anzu and tried to stand as tall as possible, in an attempt to look intimidating. Yugi suddenly heard his other Self chuckling mischievously in his head. 'I just had a thought! If Jonouchi is now female but still prefers girls to boys, does that make her a lesbian?" Yugi was a bit taken aback.

"What?! You mean... she's gay?!" He accidentally shouted the last part, drawing shocked looks from them.

"Who's gay?!" Anzu shrieked, horrified by Yugi's outburst.

Katsu almost shrieked as well, but a devilish smirk appeared on her face as a wicked idea came to her. "Yeah, I'm gay. I like girls," she proudly announced. "And even if I was into guys, I wouldn't go near ugly little twerps like you." He was actually starting to have fun with this gender mix up thing!

Mumbling that it was not fair that such a hot chick preferred girls, the pair shuffled past. "Bloody lesbian," Haga sneered, elbowing Jonouchi as he passed. Jonouchi was quick to retaliate.

"Homophobes!" Itching to punch the sneer off Haga's bug eyed face, she raised a fist but Anzu pulled her back.

"They are not worth bothering with Jo... Katsu." She breathed a sigh of relief. She had almost slipped up and called her Jonouchi!

"Neah... You should have let me punch their lights out. Being beaten up by a girl would be the ultimate humiliation."

"Girls don't throw punches," Anzu scolded.

"Says the girl who packs the meanest right hook," Katsu retorted, making Anzu bristle in response. Anzu could not think of a comeback to that.

"Come on Katsu." Anzu grabbed her arm. "We should get home before we meet anyone else we know."

Meanwhile, Yugi was mentally scolding his other Self for causing him to say something embarrassing. But the spirit was unrepentant. "It got rid of those two idiots though, didn't it?" Hovering beside Yugi, he smirked smugly. And if he had been corporeal he would have walked slap bang into a lamp post. He blinked in surprise, happy that it had passed straight through him. Yugi rolled his eyes in amusement.

They reached Anzu's house without any further hitches. Thankfully, Anzu's parents had both gone out. They had left a note on the counter to say that they had gone to visit Grandma Mazaki and would be home by tea time.

"That's good. We can work on teaching you how to be ladylike while they're out." Anzu took them upstairs to her bedroom. Katsu smirked.

"I've never been in your bedroom before. Have you Yuge?" The leer looked strange on Jonouchi's now feminine face. Yugi pulled a face that was somewhere between a cringe and a smile.

"Yugi has been in my room lots of times, haven't you Yugi? And not to do what you think, pervert!" She threw a cuddly toy at Jonouchi.

"Hey! That never even crossed my ladylike mind! Bet it crossed yours though Yuge, huh?!" Just as he often did when they were larking around, Jonouchi grabbed Yugi in a headlock. Yugi was immediately confronted with a face full of breasts. He felt himself heating up. Luckily, Katsu was not as strong as Jonouchi and Yugi easily freed himself.

Alarmed and red in the face, he stumbled backwards. "Please Jonouchi! It kind of doesn't seen as funny now that you are a.. a.." He could not quite say it.

"Girl!" Anzu finished for him. "And if you want survive the next month as Katsu, you have to stop doing things like that!"

Yugi squirmed. "I'm sorry, but I don't know how I'm supposed to behave around you anymore Jonouchi. You're still behaving like Jonouchi but you are a girl now and it feels all weird and wrong." The reality was really starting to sink in for Yugi. This was not something to make jokes about; it was awkward, and it was difficult for them all to grasp the true implications of this new situation. In all honesty, he was a upset about his best friend's condition. It would be impossible to be friends in the way that they usually were. Female Jonouchi might have the mouth of a fishwife but she had really nice breasts. Her golden hair felt so much softer than Jonouchi's usual straw-like mane and her brown doe eyes were much prettier. Yugi was embarrassed to admit it, but if he did not know who she really was, he could easily fancy her.

On the other hand, as Katsu, Jonouchi seemed oblivious to the effect that he had on boys. Confused, Yugi slumped down on the bed and watched as Anzu took Jonouchi's measurements.

"Okay, I think I have one or two things that will fit you," she told Katsu. "They will have to do until we can get you some clothes of your own. Unfortunately, you have large feet so my shoes won't fit you. And your bust size is bigger than mine." Anzu was envious about that.

Before anyone could say anything, Jonouchi had pulled off her tee-shirt and was standing, topless in the middle of the bedroom. "Okay, may as well get this over with. Gimme your girls clothes?" She held out her hand.

"Jonouchi!" Anzu screeched, hurriedly scrabbling to find a top that would cover her up and holding it over her exposed chest. "I didn't ask you to strip in front of Yugi!" She turned and glared at said boy, who was gawking, eyes out on stalks and mouth hanging open. "Yugi!" She bellowed. "Don't stare like that!"

"Oh my God! Sorry!" He clamped his hands over his face and turned away. "Sorry! Sorry!" The poor boy was nearly beside himself with a mixture of guilt for staring, and with horror that his friend was so... shapely!

"Sorry Yuge," Jonouchi smirked. "Nice aren't they? Bet you wouldn't mind a handful of these babies." He cupped his hands around his breasts and massaged them, jiggling them up and down. "Might as well make the most of them while I can." She smirked, but stopped when she saw the filthy look that Anzu was giving her. "What?! I still got a man brain inside my head!"

"You are unbelievable sometimes Jonouchi," Anzu snapped, irritably. "This is a serious matter. You are a woman now and yet you are behaving like it's all some hilarious joke! I know it's not easy for you – hell! It's not easy for any of us! But if we all stick together we can get you through this mess. If this is going to work we need you to take it seriously and.. and.." She huffed and almost tore her hair out in frustration.

There was an awkward silence between the three friends as they tried to avoid eye contact with each other.

Jonouchi was first to speak. "I know," she muttered, slowly and sadly. "It's not hilarious at all. But if I think about it too seriously, I might break down and spend the next month crying my eyes out. If you want me to be real honest wit you, I'm shit scared and totally freaked out. I thought if I make lewd jokes about groping myself, it would help me hold onto my masculinity. But I think I'm already losing myself. What's gonna happen in the next month?!" Her voice was starting to raise in pitch and become more stressed.

Yugi was lost for words. He sat on the bed, staring at his feet, with his elbows on his knees and hands clasped together.

"Say something Yuge?" Jonouchi pleaded, tearfully. "You'll still be my friend, won't ya?" What was she going to do if the female hormones took over and became so dominant they completely drowned out her male ones? Would it ruin her friendship with her male friends?

Anzu rushed to her side and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "It's okay to be frightened. We're all frightened. But we are here for you and we will all get through this together. Won't we Yugi?" She looked over at her spiky haired friend for some support. Yugi did not look up right away, but when he did, he looked unsure.

"Y.. yeah, we will." It was embarrassing to see his best friend behaving and looking at him so... differently. His best friend had breasts – beautiful, perfect breasts. He wanted to see them again. Oh God! What was wrong with him? "I should be getting home." He stood up abruptly. "I nearly forgot that Grandpa wants me to help in the shop this afternoon." He hurried to the door. "See ya later Jonouchi, Anzu."

"Yugi?" Anzu called to him. His sudden eagerness to escape was a concern. "Wait? I will see you out." She told Katsu to stay there, and she followed Yugi downstairs.

She bit her lip as she watched him fumbling with his shoelaces. He seemed distressed.

"Are you okay Yugi?" Anzu asked, concerned.

"I don't know..." He mumbled, barely audible. Having tied his laces, he stood up, trying to avoid eye contact. He hurriedly made for the door.

Anzu reached for his arm to stop him running away. "Please? Yugi! I know what's happened to Jonouchi is difficult for you. Believe me, I'm struggling with it too. But Jonouchi really needs you to stand by him, or rather, her. Out of all of us, you're the one who always stays strong."

He nodded and sagged against the frame of the front porch. "Don't worry, I will be okay. I won't let you or Jonouchi down. It's just... strange to see my best friend with... things... on his..." he shook his head. "I mean her chest. I know I shouldn't have looked at them, but I wasn't expecting Jonouchi to expose them like that. I didn't know what to do! The other me is feeling just as confused too."

"I know Yugi," Anzu smiled warmly and stepped closer to the boy she held so dear. "It was a big shock to me as well," she chuckled. "I was actually a bit jealous of them. I could see that you were unsure how to react, but I think that you behaved very honourably."

"You do?! I thought I behaved like an idiot." At the talk of breasts, Yugi was trying very hard not to look at Anzu's chest. He did not want Anzu to feel insecure about Jonouchi's breasts being bigger and wondered if he should tell her that he still liked her breasts more than he liked Jonouchi's. But before he could open his mouth and put his foot in it, he heard his other self in his head. 'Aibou! It would be unwise to tell Anzu that you enjoy looking at her breasts."

Yugi jumped slightly and nearly fell sideways off the step from the porch.

Anzu had no idea why had nearly stumbled and she instinctively reached out to grab his him before he could fall.

"It's okay," he cringed. "Forgot about the step." He gave her a cute, bashful grimace.

Unable to resist him when he looked at her like that, she leaned down slightly and kissed him on the cheek. "I will call you later to let you know how Jonouchi is getting on with her elocution lesson."

Blushing deeply, Yugi floated home on a cloud. All his other worries seemed to vanish because...

Anzu had kissed him!

::::::::::::

Thankfully, Anzu's parents did not suspect anything and said that they were happy to support the school's student exchange programme. Katsu was welcome to stay for the month.

Anzu made up the bed in the spare room and reminded Katsu not to do anything uncouth in front of her parents.

Dinner went as smoothly as expected. Katsu, as Jonouchi was now known, surprised herself by behaving quite eloquently at the dining table. When asked about her family and home town, she used Shizuka as her role model and gave them the name of the place where young Jonouchi had spent the first twelve years of his life. She was not sure if it was a good thing, but she was actually starting to feel comfortable with being female. The next month might be easier than she first thought.

Back in the guest bedroom, Katsu breathed in the faint scent of the clean bed linen. It smelled of roses. In fact, the whole room smelled nice – not like the room in the flat Jonouchi shared with his dad, which had dirty, torn curtains and bed linen that smelled of tobacco, stale booze and old chip pans.

Katsu sighed and lay down on her back. What would her father be doing right now? He was probably drunk and not even bothered that his son had gone missing. He would only notice when he was too drunk to get up and wanted Jonouchi to go and buy him more booze.

Katsu got up and made her way to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for bed. This was the part she had initially thought would be a bit of fun – feeling her female parts in the shower. Now, however, she was thinking what a pervert Jonouchi had been for thinking something like that. Was she beginning to think more like a woman than a man?! The thought that she might be, was both normal and frightening at the same time.

She stripped off and caught a glimpse of her figure in the bathroom mirror. Why did the Mazaki's even have a full length mirror in the bathroom?! Katsu turned her back to the mirror and twisted round to admire her shapely hips and bottom. Her thighs were so much rounder and softer than Jonouchi's lean muscular butt.

Running her hands down her legs, she gasped. Those hairs on her legs would need to go!

Turning round to face the mirror, she ran her hands over her smooth tummy and over her pubic hair. Her stomach lurched at the absence of male reproductive organs. Down below felt very differently to what was there before. Running her hands back up her body, she examined her breasts. Who would have thought she would have the sort of breasts, that as Jonouchi, she had fantasised about nuzzling and fondling. What a pervert that boy was!

Katsu looked at her face. The masculine features looked softer. The small amount of facial hair that Jonouchi had been so proud of, was gone. It was then that she noticed her eyes were full of tears.

Small sobs started to escape as her male brain fought for dominance over her female thoughts and feelings.

Katsu fell to her knees and thumped her fists on the fluffy pink bathmat. "Why? Why? Bakura you bastard! Why me? It's not fair."

After several minutes of meltdown, Katsu composed herself and stood up. As a man, Jonouchi was not a quitter and neither would she be as Katsu. If they could not reverse the spell – and she doubted that the thing that possessed Bakura would allow Ryou to even try – she would just have to suck it up and get on with life as a female. Screw what anyone else said or thought.

Turning on the shower, she stepped in and attempted to wash away the remnants of Jonouchi and his male attitude.


	5. The Mall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During a visit to the mall to buy clothing for Katsu, they bump into Seto Kaiba and Mokuba.  
> Meanwhile, Katsu/Jonouchi is still struggling to get to grips with her new identity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Swearing and some smut

Jonouchi, or rather, Katsu as she was now known, woke up at five in the morning, desperate for a pee. She hopped out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

One of the things she had been quick to discover, was that girls really did have smaller bladders than men! And she found it irritating that could not hold onto it for anywhere near as long as she could when she had been Jonouchi. She vowed to never again tease Anzu for always needing the 'little girls room'.

Jonouchi never thought twice about leaving the bathroom door open to take a leak, but Katsu felt the need for privacy. With the door closed and locked, she pulled her pyjama shorts down and sat on the toilet. She still felt self conscious about her vastly different genitalia, but it made a pleasant change to sit down and go with ease, instead of struggling to pee through a semi boner, while half asleep, and ending up peeing all down his leg or all over the back of the toilet seat.

Dabbing herself dry was still a novelty too. At first, she had tried to shake herself dry like Jonouchi always did, but that had not worked too well and she quickly discovered that wet knickers were unpleasant.

Flushing the toilet, she washed her hands and tiptoed back to bed. It was still only five fifteen and since Anzu had said they usually got up around eight thirty to nine on a Sunday morning, she decided to go back to sleep.

Luxuriating in the spotless room, with its clean furnishings and fresh bed linen, she snuggled back down. She was beginning to feel surprisingly content in her new body and wondered if it was because her hormones were adjusting to make her feel more feminine.

Whenever Jonouchi woke up in the night, he often felt restless and in need of some pleasurable release. Even as Katsu, that need still remained. She curiously wondered what sort of pleasure women felt when touched intimately. It must feel different to how Jonouchi felt whenever he had the urge to knock one off. Sliding her hand inside her silky shorts, she decided to find out.

She was woken again at eight forty by a knock on the door. "Katsu? It's Anzu. Are you awake?"

"Huh! Yeah, you can come in! I'm decent."

Pushing the door open, Anzu stepped inside and went over to the bed. The first thing she noticed was that the room did not smell of 'teenage boy' like it sometimes did whenever she went into Yugi's room, or like it had when she had gone into the boys rooms to wake them up when they had all stayed the night in Pegasus' castle. Teenage boy seemed to be a unique smell, all of its own!

She shook her head to clear the thought and then moved to sit down on the bed. "how are you this morning?" She cautiously asked.

Katsu eased herself into a sitting position. "Tell ya the truth, I dunno. I've been through every emotion I can think of and now I'm just kinda meh.."

"Kinda meh?"

"Yeah, it's like I don't really mind. I think my hormones are changing or something, because I'm getting used to it. I hope I don't start thinking too much like a girl."

"Well, I suppose that is good... sort of. Maybe it will make the next month a bit easier to handle."

Katsu let out a sigh. "Man, a whole month of having to put up with myself as a hormonal girl. I hope I don't start going all silly and giggly when guys look at me!"

"Hey!" Anzu playfully slapped her. "When have you seen me do that?"

"You're different, you hang out with guys. You know how guys think."

Anzu folded her arms. "I will never know how guys think!" She raised a thoughtful eyebrow. "But you are in the unique position of being able to understand both sexes."

Katsu rolled her eyes. "Yeah, lucky me," she said, sarcastically.

"I'm wondering," Anzu felt embarrassed about asking."But now that you're female, do you still prefer girls? Or, do you like boys now?"

"What?!" At first, Katsu looked a bit freaked out, but then looked thoughtful. "I think I still like girls, but not as much. I thought it would be fun to be in bed with a female body and touch myself up." The lewd expression on her face suddenly made her look more like Jonouchi, but it quickly faded and was replaced by worry. "But it didn't make me feel like I thought it would."

At first, Anzu looked confused, but she quickly cottoned on to what Katsu was referring to and pulled an appalled face. "That's just disturbing. Maybe we should change the subject."

"Hey! You were the one that asked! It's just... that when I was Jonouchi, I would have done anything to touch a female body. But now I am female, I find the pleasant thoughts that used to fill my head, a bit dirty. I feel terrible about the way I behaved. No wonder all the girls at school call me a pervert."

Anzu tried her best to be supportive. But having been on the receiving end of the 'panty tank' on more than one occasion, she found it difficult. Jonouchi had done many things that made him deserve being called a pervert! She set out a small huff. "Maybe spending the next month as a girl will do you good."

"I guess you will never forgive me for lifting up your skirt. But I did say sorry and you got your own back with that right hook."

Anzu could not help but smile. "Sorry about that. Did it really hurt that much? I thought you were supposed to be a tough guy!"

Katsu chuckled. "You hit harder than some guys I know! And those guys are real hard bastards."

"I needed to be good at fighting! When Yugi and I used to go to the park as children, there were these awful kids who would always pick on us. Yugi wouldn't fight back so I had to do all the fighting."

"Yeah, but Yugi ain't the weak kid he used to be, is he?"

"No, he isn't," Anzu smiled, pleased that her timid friend was gaining so much confidence. "Talking of Yugi, I have just spoken to him and he is coming shopping for clothing with us. We need to get you some underwear, shoes, and maybe a couple of outfits."

"Who's gonna pay for that stuff? I ain't got any money," Katsu frowned.

"Don't worry. We're all going to chip in. Ryou messaged me. He feels really guilty and has transferred 10,000yen into my bank account to help pay for the stuff you will need."

Katsu pushed the covers back and slipped her long slender legs over the side of the bed. While her shape had changed, she still had hair under her arms and on her legs. Yesterday, she had been happy that at least something masculine remained, but this morning it looked gross. "Ugh! Look at my pits?!" She lifted up her arms for Anzu to see. "I really need to get rid of my pit and leg hair!" She lowered her arms and ran her hands over her hairy shins.

Anzu tried not to grimace. "Have you got hair growing on your face at all?"

Katsu instinctively rubbed her hand over her chin, remembering how Jonouchi had been really proud of the small amount of downy facial hair he had recently started to grow. But just as it was last night when she checked, her face was soft and smooth. "I don't get it! How come my face hair has gone but my leg and pit hair hasn't?!"

Anzu winked. "I will let you into a secret. Most girls have to shave their armpits and legs. I will lend you my lady shaver. It's kind of like a man shaver but pink."

With Katsu's legs and armpits de-fuzzed, they had breakfast and then went back upstairs to get ready and wait for Yugi to arrive.

But the closer it go to going out in public, the more nervous Katsu became. "I don't know if I can go out," she shuddered at the thought. "I know so many people."

"It will be alright, they won't recognise you. If I didn't know who you really were, I wouldn't have a clue you were originally a boy."

"You're just saying that."

"I'm not! Promise."

"Really? You're just saying that to make me go out."

"Am not! I actually think you look pretty stunning," said Anzu, putting the finishing touches to Katsu's hair.

Katsu checked herself in the mirror. Anzu was right, she was pretty dam hot.

Just as she was admiring herself, the doorbell rang. Anzu rushed downstairs to let Yugi in. He followed Anzu up to her room and his chin nearly hit the floor when he saw Katsu in a pair of Anzu's leggings and a pink top that showed off her neat curves and tiny waist. "Jonouchi?!" He gasped unsure what to say.

"That does it!" Katsu fumed. "Yugi thinks I look like some fucked up drag queen. I ain't going to the mall. Fuck it!"

"Shh... Keep your voice down! I don't want my parents to hear you swearing like that!" Anzu hissed. Her parents were downstairs in the kitchen. Luckily, they had the radio on quite loud and did not hear.

"Sorry..." Katsu sagged and sat down on the bed. "Be honest Yugi, I look like a drag queen, don't I?"

With his face bright red, Yugi shook his head and stammered. "N.. no! You look amazing! You're, you're..."

"You can't say it, can you Yugi?" Katsu stood up and stuck her arms out like a scarecrow and did a slightly ungainly twirl in front of him. Yugi was so embarrassed that he tried not to make eye contact with her. "You think I'm ugly, don't you Yugi?" She pressed, making the poor boy cringe.

"No! You're not ugly! You... you're beautiful! Okay?!" Yugi finally blurted, scrunching up his eyes and shaking his head. "I shouldn't think that!"

Katsu suddenly felt guilty for getting in his face and forcing an opinion from him. "Hey! I'm sorry Yuge... You're my pal and you're upset about what happened. I get that!" She placed her hand on Yugi's shoulder but felt him flinch and tense up, so she withdrew her hand. "But I'm female now – at least for the time being. So I guess it's okay for you to have strange feelings about me." It worried her to think that it might damage their friendship and she needed to show him that inside she was still the same Jonouchi.

Removing the tension between them by making the whole thing into one big joke seemed like the right thing to do, so she gave him a lewd wink and purred. "Just don't go getting any ideas with me. Okay?"

The joke backfired somewhat and Yugi backed away, looking a bit afraid. "No! Of course I won't! I promise!" He shuddered. This was so wrong! But as hard as he tried not to think about it, he could still not shake off the image of her stripping off her top in front of him, revealing her voluptuous breasts.

He had even had her breasts on his mind when he went to bed last night and had experienced a restless night sleep as a result. It was too embarrassing to even think about, let alone admit to anyone.

Anzu found herself starting to feel jealous. Was Yugi actually attracted to Katsu? Judging by how uncomfortable and flushed he was, Anzu guessed that he did find her attractive and was deeply troubled by his feelings. It had been a similar story yesterday, with Honda; when he had also been embarrassed by his own reaction and physical response to her.

It was quite understandable that they should feel so disturbed about finding a female version of Jonouchi attractive. The boys were good friends and did typical guy things together. It must be very strange for them – far stranger than it was for Anzu to deal with.

Would Katsu have the same effect on every man she met?

Anzu had to admit, she was slightly envious of Katsu's beauty. It was mind boggling to think that this attractive young woman had actually been their rough, tough, loud mouthed, fist fighting friend.

"Come on, we should get going." Anzu made a point of holding Yugi by the hand as she lead them downstairs and outside.

There were two elderly ladies at the bus stop. They were neighbours of Anzu. But apart from exchanging polite good mornings, they barely paid Katsu any attention, which made the trio relax slightly.

Arriving at the mall, they got off and headed towards the entrance. There were quite a few people out and about and Katsu noticed that most did not even look at her. But she did notice that a gang of rough looking teenage boys were hanging about, right where they were heading. It put her senses on high alert.

As they passed by, one of the boys stepped forward. "Hey! Why don't you two lovelies ditch that little runt and hang out with us today?"

"Just ignore them," Anzu hissed. But just like Jonouchi, Katsu was ready for a fight.

"Say that again moron and I will smash your face in!"

"Woo...! Feisty... I like my girls feisty. How about we go back to my place and I can put that feisty attitude to good use?" The four boys all laughed at their leaders' joke.

"Why you..." Katsu was ready to punch the stupid smirk off his face when Anzu grabbed her arm.

"They are not worth it Katsu. Come on, we will be late meeting your boyfriend." With that, she took both Yugi and Katsu by hand, stuck her nose in the air and dragged them away.

"Boyfriend?!" Katsu screeched, as she was pulled along by Anzu. Behind her, she could hear the group of boys calling out perverted obscenities at her. Pulling herself free from Anzu's grip, she turned around and gave them the middle finger sign.

The group of boys had actually made her feel humiliated and vulnerable. Was this what women had to put up with every time they went out?

Shuddering at the memory of Jonouchi hanging out with Hirutani and behaving in a very similar way towards women, she fell back into step with her friends.

"You okay Jo..." Yugi quickly checked himself, "Katsu?" Katsu was still too busy raging and seemed not to notice his near slip-up.

"Yeah, thanks for your concern Yuge. I just don't like guys that think they can treat girls like that."

"I didn't recognise them," Yugi added. "They must be from out of town."

"Yeah, they definitely ain't a local gang," Katsu agreed, before addressing Anzu. "Does that sort of thing happen a lot?"

"Not that often, but sometimes!" Anzu huffed. "The best way to deal with guys like those is to ignore them."

"Makes me feel kinda bad about my own behaviour in the past. There should be a law against harassing women like that."

"It would be nice, but I don't think it is that easy to stop it," Anzu sighed. She felt genuine sympathy for Katsu. She was only just skimming the surface of what life as a woman was like in a man's world.

"There's Honda!" Yugi raised his arm to attract their friend's attention as they walked towards him. Honda nodded his head in acknowledgement.

Honda seldom blushed, but his face turned pink as they approached. His old pal sure was a beautiful woman. If he did not know who she really was, he would be tempted to try and date her.

He shifted awkwardly and ran his hand through his hair as they approached. "Hey guys!" It came out slightly higher pitched than he would have liked. Boy, was he flustered.

"Wosup dude? Is that a rocket in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?" Katsu snickered.

"Shut up!" Honda's face was now very red. One or two people close by gave them funny looks.

"Stop it you two. You are attracting weird looks so behave like sensible adults," Anzu hissed.

"Don't forget her name is Katsu now," Yugi quickly reminded Honda, before he had chance to slip up on the name in public.

Honda offered a handshake and pretended not to have met her before. "You must be Anzu's exchange student? Nice to meet you Katsu." There was a slightly pointed edge to his voice.

"The privilege is all mine." Smirking, Katsu held out her hand, with the back of her hand held in front of Honda's face. "Are you gonna kiss it or just look at it like it bites?" She teased.

"You gotta be kidding, right?" Honda grimaced. Yugi and Anzu leaned against each other as they tried not to laugh too loudly.

"They're like an old married couple," Anzu whispered to Yugi in amusement.

Before hitting the shops, they decided to go and get some coffee.

::::::::::::

Seto Kaiba usually avoided public places. They were usually crawling with irritating people who kept pointing at him in awe and muttering his name. Thankfully, none of them had the guts to come up and talk to him because his body language frightened them away.

He particularly hated shopping malls. They reeked of fast food and stale bodies and were claustrophobic and noisy. But since Mokuba had been complaining about him putting in long hours to perfect the new duel disk and solid vision holographic system he had been working on since Duelist Kingdom, he had been forced to promise the boy a treat.

And Mokuba had demanded they go to the mall for pancakes.

Just as they rounded a corner and headed towards the pancake bar, he spotted Yugi Mutou and the nerd herd coming towards them. How the hell such a squirt could stand out so boldly in a crowd was always a source of amusement to him – must be the ridiculous hair!

"Quick Mokuba! In here." Without looking to see what sort of shop they were entering, he grabbed his younger brother's arm and pulled him inside a fashion boutique.

"Ladies clothing?!" Mokuba gave his brother a strange look. "Why do you want to go in here?"

"It's Yugi and his band of dweebs. I'm hiding."

"But why? Yugi and his friends are nice. They helped save our company from Pegasus. Or have you forgotten?"

"I don't care what they did. I can't stand them," Seto hissed.

"Can I help you Sir?" Seto turned round and glared down at a smiling shop assistant, who was looking up at him, expectantly.

She suddenly gasped and shrieked so loudly when she realised who her customer was, that Seto thought she would combust.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god!" She squealed, hopping up and down, "Mister Kaiba!" Her colleague heard the shrieks of delight – even over the hideous pop music that was playing – and came running out of the stock room.

Outside, Yugi and his friends were just approaching the shop. "This is a good place! I get quite a lot of my clothing in here." Anzu explained, completely unaware that Seto Kaiba was trying to hide inside.

They stepped inside to see Seto Kaiba standing in the middle of the store looking irritated, while two female shop assistants fawned over him. Mokuba was standing behind him, laughing in amusement at his brother's inability to know quite what to say to them.

"Kaiba?!" Yugi exclaimed, in surprise.

At the sound of Yugi's voice, Seto spun round and instantly voiced his displeasure. "Oh great! Just when I didn't think things could get worse, the dweeb patrol turns up."

Hearing Kaiba's voice, the other Yugi forgot that he disliked shopping and was trying to avoid being involved, and materialised next to Yugi's shoulder. "Would you like me to take over?"

"No, it's okay. I don't think he will challenge me to a duel here." Yugi responded through their link.

"Are you trying to choose a gift for a lady Kaiba? Would you like some help?" Anzu asked, with a hint of teasing in her voice.

"If I needed help, do you honestly think I would ask someone with your taste in fashion?"

Normally, Jonouchi would have rounded on him for talking to Anzu with such disregard, but desperate not to be seen by Kaiba, she hid behind her friends and slowly slunk between the racks of clothing.

"Maybe he's not buying for a lady. Maybe he's a cross dresser," Honda bit back, using the exact comment he knew that Jonouchi would make. Seto was unimpressed by the remark.

"Hmph! Come on Mokuba, were leaving." He marched towards the door and then stopped to do a double take. "What happened to the mutt today? Isn't he usually with you?" His eyes fell on Katsu, hiding behind the rails. She looked vaguely familiar.

Katsu cringed. Oh.. shit! This was not happening! Nerves jangling, she slowly edged her way into better view. "I erm... He's... not..."

Before she could finish saying something that might make Kaiba suspicious, Anzu stepped forward. "Jonouchi has too work today, so he's not here."

"Who's she?" Kaiba pointed straight at Katsu.

Katsu wanted to throw up. Resigned to her fate, she stepped boldly out from between the rail of dresses that she had been attempting to hide behind. "Okay, might as well..."

Yugi did not let her finish her sentence. "This is Jonouchi's cousin, Katsu. She is staying with Anzu because there isn't room at Jonouchi's place."

Kaiba blinked. "Oh! Now that you mention it, I can see a resemblance." He looked her up and down. She was hot! How could anyone related to the mutt be this hot?!

Katsu did not know how to react. It felt as though Kaiba was undressing her with his eyes. Instinct was telling her to threaten him with a right hook and tell him to back off, but the fear of giving the game away, made her keep quiet.

Their eyes met and Katsu could have sworn she saw the hint of appreciation on Kaiba's face – how disturbing. She quickly looked away and could feel the embarrassment creeping up her neck and onto her cheeks.

Kaiba cleared his throat. "Well, I guess I will leave you to it. Until next time." He turned and marched out with Mokuba hot on his heels.

As he reached the doors, Mokuba turned around with a big grin on his face. "See ya later guys!"

The moment they had gone, Katsu let out a huge sigh and slumped against a rail for support. "Man.., that was a close one. For a moment there, I thought he knew..."

"I thought he looked at you like he thought you were a real babe." Honda sounded serious and Katsu wanted to tell him it was bullshit. Only... Honda was right.

"I don't think I have ever seen Kaiba look at any girl in that way before," Anzu mused.

"Except his Blue Eyes White Dragon," Yugi added.

"Yeah, well he can stick to his dragons, cuz he doesn't have a hope in hell. No way I would date money bags."

"Not even if he offered to take you on a luxury cruise?" Honda smirked, but the smirk died away when Katsu grabbed him by the collar.

"That does it! I'm through with this crap!"

Honda threw his hands up in a placating gesture. "Hey! Don't get so riled up! You should be flattered that you are so beautiful that every guy likes you."

Katsu let go of Honda's collar. "Yeah, well. I already told Yugi not to get ideas, so don't you go getting any either, cuz there's no way I would ever even consider dating my two best buds. So, you can stop drooling over me." She turned her ire into mirth, by winking at him.

Honda fidgeted awkwardly on the spot. "I don't think you realise how hot you are," he admitted, candidly.

Katsu pulled a strange face that was somewhere between repulsed and intrigued. "You mean? I make you wanna..."

"DON'T," Anzu raised her voice... "even finish that sentence," she grimaced.

They heard the shop assistant cough. "Erm... excuse me? Can I be of assistance?"

Anzu spun round with a neatly fixed smile. "Yes please! We need to buy a few things for my friend."

::::::::::::

Seto kaiba stomped towards the nearest exit doors that would lead him away from this god awful, claustrophobic hell hole. How could people spend their entire day in here?!

"Seto?! Where are you going? We haven't had our pancakes yet!"

"I will get the chef to make some for you when we get home."

"But it's Sunday! The staff are off today."

For a brief moment, Seto paused in mid stride. "Then I will make you pancakes."

Mokuba grabbed his sleeve and managed to stand between his brother and the doors. "I'm not letting you go back on your word. Your cooking sucks! I want to go to The Original Pancake House." Mokuba knew he sounded petulant but there was no way he was going to be let down, yet again.

Seto's shoulders sagged slightly but not enough that anyone but Mokuba would notice. "Very well."

Grinning, Mokuba dragged his brother to get pancakes.

Perusing the menu with excitement, Mokuba ordered the Super Banoffi Special, which consisted of a large crepe, filled with vanilla, chocolate and toffee ice cream, bananas, caramel and copious amounts of whipped cream, Seto did not bother looking at the menu, but ordered a large black coffee with two sugars.

When Mokuba's pancake arrived, he licked his lips and clutched his knife and fork in anticipation. Seto gave it an unimpressed glare. "You will never be able to eat all that," he remarked, blandly.

Tucking in, Mokuba grinned. "Wanna bet? Just watch me?"

Ten minutes later, Mokuba finished his last, triumphant mouthful. Even though he was starting to feel a bit sick, he was not going to be defeated and have Seto say 'I told you so'.

While Mokuba was busy eating, Seto sipped his coffee, deep in thought. He could have sworn that he had seen the blond girl before somewhere. Even the name Katsu rang a bell, but he could not place her. He came to the conclusion that since she as related to Jonouchi, it was the family resemblance. How could someone as disgusting and moronic as Jonouchi have a cousin who was hot. For some reason, he could not get her out of his head.

Mokuba placed his cutlery down and sat back in his chair. Seto was not paying attention to him and was staring at his half drunk coffee, deep in thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.   
> If you enjoyed it, please review or give some kudos.


	6. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonouchi/Katsu's gender issues continue to cause concern for everyone. They all want to be supportive but are caught between their own loyalties to their friend and who 'she' now is! As much as they try to be open minded and supportive, they struggle to cope with their own prejudices and perceptions of sexuality that society has taught them. Please don't be put off - Jonouchi will still continue to dislike Kaiba even if Katsu finds him attractive! There will also be some comedy moments and some darker, self awareness struggles in future chapters.

Apart from the embarrassment of being fitted for a bra, Katsu found the whole experience much more enjoyable than she thought she would. After bumping into Kaiba, there were no more incidents, and armed with several bags of clothing and matching accessories, they all made their way back to Anzu's house.

"Well, I would call that a success!" Anzu beamed. She always enjoyed a good shopping trip.

Katsu heaved a sigh of relief. She was just thankful that moneybags had not realised who she really was.

In the sanctuary of Anzu's sitting room, the teens sat down to drink tea and eat some of Mrs. Mazaki's home made apple cake.

"Maybe the next month won't be as bad as we think," said Yugi, trying to be upbeat about the whole situation. In truth, he was still totally freaked out by it, but he was sure he could get used to his best friend now being Katsu. Both he and his other Self vowed to try and support their friend, no matter what the next month threw at them.

Anzu did not like to admit it, but she kind of liked having a female friend within their little group because it evened things out a bit. But she still missed Jonouchi; with his silly wisecracks and sometimes idiotic behaviour. The next month would be a challenge, but one she was oddly looking forward to.

It was Honda that brought them back to the harsh realities that were still facing them. "Yeah, but we're back at school tomorrow. What are you going to do? People are bound to wonder what's going on when you show up and take Jonouchi's place."

"I'm afraid Honda's right," Anzu sighed. This was the one thing she had been putting off and was dreading. "We need to come up with a really good explanation."

"I'm not going. Simple as that!" Katsu was adamant and the others knew that they would not change her mind easily. However, that did not stop Yugi from trying.

"But you can't just bunk off school for a whole month Jonouchi! You're already bottom of the class and we have the end of term exams coming up soon!" He did not even realise he had slipped up and called her Jonouchi. Katsu chose not to pick him up on it as she was more upset at being reminded of Jonouchi's lack of academic ability.

She scowled at him. "Thanks for reminding me I'm thick Yuge."

"Sorry," Yugi's shoulders sagged, as he tried to smile apologetically. "I didn't mean it like that, but..."

"Yeah... man, you are thick!" Honda interrupted, "That's why you can't afford to take time off."

"Well, I can't go in like this!" Katsu shrieked. "Not when Yugi keeps calling me Jonouchi and your call me man or dude!"

Yugi suddenly found the optimism he had felt a few minutes ago, going from the first floor, back down to the basement. This was not going to be as easy as he had begun to hope it might be. "I'm sorry... Katsu. I will try not to call you Jonouchi," he mumbled, sheepishly.

Katsu sighed. "It's not your fault Yuge. I know it's tough for you, but try to imagine yourself in my shoes. How can I even think of going to school? I'm terrified that one of you will call me Jonouchi in front of the whole class."

"You can't just bunk off school, you idiot!" Honda scolded.

"Well, you come up with a solution then!" Katsu snapped back. When Honda did not respond, she became impatient. "Come on? I'm waiting, smart-ass!"

Worried they were going to start fighting, Anzu stepped in. "Guys... please?! Arguing isn't helping!"

They both stopped and looked at her.

"Have you got a solution Anzu?" Yugi quickly interjected, before Katsu and Honda started bickering again. Anzu nodded.

"This is what I suggest we do," she said. "We enrol Katsu in school as Katsu Kawaii, and explain that because of problems at home she has come to stay with her cousin, Jonouchi, until things settle down at home again. When people ask where Jonouchi has gone, we will say that it was not the best timing, but he received a phone call from his mother over the weekend to say that his sister has been rushed into hospital and he has had to go and stay with them. Jonouchi did not want to leave Katsu alone with his drunken, abusive father, so I offered to let her stay with me. What do you think?"

Since it was Anzu's suggestion, Yugi nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, I think that might work," he said, agreeably. "What do you guys think?" He looked between Honda and Katsu.

Honda rubbed his chin and hummed thoughtfully as he weighed up any potential problems. He could think of one. "What if they ring Jonouchi's mother to check up on his story?"

"Then I will give them my phone number. If they call I can pretend to be Jonouchi's mother." Anzu quickly offered.

"It's okay Anzu, the school don't have my mother's number anyway," Katsu informed her. "They only have my Dad's and most of the time he doesn't care where I am anyway."

Another potential problem suddenly occurred to Yugi. "What if they try to ring Katsu's fictional parents?"

"Then I give them my mobile number," Katsu decided. "I haven't had it long and the school don't have any record of it."

"You might get away with that, but who's gonna do the paperwork? They will want a parent to sign the entrance forms." Honda added.

"Are the forms online?" Yugi asked. "We might be able to download them and forge your parents signatures." His friends all looked at him in astonishment, making him blush. "What?" He flinched under the scrutiny.

Katsu broke into a grin. "Awesome idea Yugi!" She was impressed that he would think of doing something that was against the rules.

Honda raised an intrigued eyebrow at him. "I can't believe that of all of us you would be the one to suggest forgery Yugi!"

Yugi's jaw flapped for a moment while he came up with a reason for his dishonest suggestion. "Forgery is not something I think is a good thing to do, but desperate times mean desperate measures. I only suggested it so we can protect Jonouchi!" He was not about to admit that he had often forged his own parents handwriting to escape having to attend after school activities, because a couple of the kids there had bullied him. But he had been desperate then, and they were desperate now.

"Yugi is right." Anzu agreeing with him made him feel a bit better. "We have already started the ball rolling by lying to my parents about Katsu being an exchange student. They will expect you to go to school with me each day. If you don't, they will query it. I hate to admit it, but forging the document is our only choice."

Everyone nodded their agreement. Apart from admitting that Jonouchi had turned into a female overnight – which no one would be able to understand, but which would lead to much ridicule anyway – there was no other alternative.

::::::::::::

Back at the mansion, Seto retired to his study to contemplate on today's encounter. There was no getting over the fact that he was smitten with this girl.

Although he was never one to go to sleep early, he usually slept fitfully when he did finally go to bed. But, tonight sleep was eluding him. Who would have thought that thinking about a woman would have kept Seto Kaiba awake?! There was only one solution.

Firing up his laptop, he ordered a bouquet of flowers to be sent to Katsu at Anzu's address. He spent quite a bit of time trying to think of what to put on the card that would be attached to the flowers – he did not want to sound too cheesy.

In the end, he decided on: Dear Katsu. Following our brief encounter at the mall, I would like to request your company at dinner tomorrow evening. I will arrive at seven pm sharp, to take you to a restaurant that is a favourite of mine. The dress code is smart-formal. Please let me know if you have a problem with this. Unless I hear from you, I will see you at seven tomorrow evening.

Seto Kaiba.

He placed his order and was finally able to get some sleep.

::::::::::::

The following morning, Katsu woke up in a cold sweat. Last night, she had downloaded the two forms. One for Jonouchi to request one month compassionate leave from Domino, and the other form to enrol Katsu at Domino as a visiting student.

Although they had talked it all through last night, she was suddenly feeling terrified. There was absolutely no way she could bring herself to face their classmates and pretend that she was not Jonouchi.

No amount of coaxing by Anzu could change her mind, so instead of their elaborate plan, Anzu was forced to ring the school to say that she was Jonouchi's mother, and that due to family problems, he would staying with her for the foreseeable future. The school advised her to scan the form that they had already filled in to request compassionate leave, and to e-mail it to the school.

Anzu thanked them and asked if they could e-mail any course work and assignments to Jonouchi's e-mail address for him, so that he would not fall behind with his work. They agreed.

With a huge sigh of relief, Anzu ended the call. That was one more obstacle negotiated.

She said goodbye to Katsu and went to school.

::::::::::::

As the day wore on, Katsu was starting to get angry at herself over her decision to stay home.

With her friends at school and Anzu's parents out at work, the house was eerily quiet.

She tried to work on some of Jonouchi's backlogged assignments. But just like her male self, Katsu had virtually no attention span whatsoever and found it hard to concentrate when left to work alone.

Being a naturally active person, meant that staying indoors was not something she was used to. She could not stop fidgeting but did not have the confidence to venture out on her own.

With little else to do, she pottered around in the kitchen, picking at food and then sat down to play one of the video games Yugi had given her.

At around one in the afternoon, she grew bored of the video game and went to find some more food to eat.

When it came to over eating, Jonouchi never suffered from food guilt. But as Katsu, she suddenly found herself being conscious of her own figure.

Putting down the bowl of instant ramen – her second of the day – she rushed to the mirror to examine her belly. Why did she feel so bloated after eating only two bowls? Ugh, she looked like a Sumo Wrestler!

It was no more than Jonouchi would normally eat! So, why? It dawned on her that Jonouchi was thin because he was always exercising. She had been dossing around all day and had probably not burned enough calories, plus... didn't Anzu say something about hormones?

Oh well! Taking a deep breath, she decided to be brave and take a walk down to the river and along the canal path.

She was just putting on her trainers when the doorbell rang. Who could that be?

Peering out of the window, she noticed the van from the local greengrocer and florist parked outside. She should probably answer the door, but... shit, shit, shit! She knew the owner of the store, Sanpei.

Running downstairs, she half hide herself behind the door as she opened it. Luckily, it was not Sanpei, but his nephew - who Jonouchi did not know very well - doing the deliveries.

"I have a delivery for a Miss Katsu at this address." The young man looked confused. He had made deliveries to the Mazaki household before and was unaware of anyone called Katsu living there.

"Yes, that's me, thank you." Still hiding half her body behind the door, Katsu blushed.

The man gave her a cheeky smile. "They are lovely flowers." He bowed as he handed them too her.

Katsu took them. "Yes, they are," she muttered feebly, her face flushed. Who on earth could have sent her these?!

Shoving the door closed, she rushed to the kitchen to find a vase to dump them in. Unable to find one, she put them in the washing up bowl. Sod the flowers, she was desperate to know who they were from.

Rummaging through the cellophane wrapping, she found a small envelope sellotaped to the base of the wrapper. Inside was a card. "Geez... fuck!" She yelled out when she read the message.

Looking over at the flowers, something nauseating coiled in her gut. She did not know what she should do - Seto Kaiba fancied the knickers off her.

When Anzu returned home from school, with Yugi for company, they found her curled up on the sofa hugging a cushion, deep in thought.

When Katsu told them about the flowers, they were caught between utter disbelief that Kaiba could even find someone other than himself attractive, and concern about what they should do about it.

"You can't possibly accept!" Anzu reasoned.

"But Kaiba's paying! How can I turn down the offer of a free meal at the poshest place in Domino?" Katsu argued. Yugi could not believe what he was hearing.

"But you're Jonouchi!" He desperately pleaded. "You can't go! What if he wants..." his face turned red, "something in return?"

"Then I will tell him I'm not that sort of girl," Katsu pouted. "I will tell him I like to get to know a guy first." There was a hint of disgust in her voice, but there was also something that Anzu found worrying.

Gasping, her hands flew to her mouth. "God! You really are serious about going, aren't you?"

"Yeah, I am. I been thinking about it all afternoon. What harm can it do? He has no idea who I am. And when else would someone like me ever get the chance do dine on Matsusaka Wagyu?"

Yugi and Anzu gazed at her with concerned expressions. Yugi shook his head. "Is there nothing we can say to convince you not to go?"

"Nope! Rest easy guys. I can assure you I will be in complete control the whole time. Ain't nothing gonna happen. And I will be smiling inside that Scrooge is spending a ton of his money on me."

"You're bound to slip up though Jo... I mean Katsu," Yugi fretted. "What if you come out with the sort of insult Jonouchi would make?"

"I won't because Anzu here is gonna give me lessons on how to behave like a lady!"

"I am?!" Anzu looked at Katsu in horror. "But I thought you didn't want to be feminine!"

"I don't, but I'm stuck like this for a whole month. So, if I'm to avoid anyone getting suspicious, I might as well learn to embrace it and have a laugh at Kaiba's expense."

"I have a really bad feeling about this." Yugi sighed and tried again. "I really don't think you should go," he said, desperation in his voice.

"C'mon Yuge? Lighten up a bit," Katsu tried to tease, but actually pleading for her decision to be accepted. "What does the other Yugi think I should do?"

"He doesn't think you should either. If it helps, you can talk to him." Before Katsu had chance to respond, or the other Yugi protest, he retreated to his soul room, forcing his other Self to take over.

"Huh! Yugi?!" Anzu flushed as Yugi's body sagged for a moment before Yami Yugi realised that he was in control.

Yami Yugi bristled awkwardly and scratched the side of his head. "Aibou! This isn't a duel! You know I'm not very good at this sort of thing!" He complained, through their link.

"Jonouchi won't listen to me, but he might listen to you. Please tell him not to go on a date with Kaiba?"

"But Yugi!"

"Please... Other Me? I'm feeling angry and I don't want to say anything bad to Jonouchi."

"Other Yugi?!" Katsu gasped, eyeing him cautiously. What was Yugi playing at?

"Very well. I Will try." Yami Yugi cleared his throat. Seeing Jonouchi in this condition freaked him out. It was something that was out of his control and he felt powerless. "Jonouchi... I.." He scratched the side of his head again. "I mean Katsu. This is kaiba we're talking about. Do you really want to mess with him? It may lead to disaster."

Katsu's expression became serious. "I appreciate your concern, but stop worrying Yuge. I have thought about this carefully and I know what I'm doing. I didn't ask to be like this. But I'm a girl now and..." she took a breath. "This ain't easy to admit, but I'm starting to feel more like a girl than a boy. It's like I'm changing internally too, and I can't stop it."

Yami Yugi looked horrified. "You mean...?!" He glanced at Anzu. It was only a theory, but did he dare frighten his friends by telling them he believed that Jonouchi's mind might be fragmenting and vanishing into the shadows, allowing more of Katsu to take over.

Anzu chewed her bottom lip. "It is probably the hormonal changes you are experiencing that is making you feel more feminine!"

Katsu gave them both a forlorn look. "That's what I think too. I have been fighting it but it's not enough to stop it happening. When I got the stupid flowers, I actually felt flattered. I tried to chuck em in the rubbish, but something stopped me! It was like they made me feel good about myself. I know I should be feeling repulsed and tell Kaiba where to go, but I can't."

"Well, that certainly changes a few things," Yami Yugi growled, in that deep, commanding voice he usually used to intimidate people. His voice made Katsu quiver inside – something that she found worryingly disturbing.

Dismissing it, she rounded on him defensively. "I just wish you would all stop acting like you know what's best for me!" Her outburst surprised them. Calming down a little, she continued. "I might be a girl now, but I can still take care of myself. I will have dinner with Kaiba and then politely tell him to fuck off, he ain't my type."

Anzu and Yami Yugi were both dumbstruck. Their friend seemed to be fluctuating between Jonouchi and Katsu.

Eventually, it was Anzu who managed to speak first. "Well... then. I guess if we can't persuade you not to go, then I had better hurry up and give you those lessons on how to behave like a lady."

Yami Yugi felt bit nauseas at the thought of his friend wanting to be a lady in order to date Kaiba. He never shied away from any challenge, but this was one twisted challenge that he could not stomach. Yugi was better at this stuff than him so he retreated into the Puzzle to brood and probably punch a few walls.

Neither Katsu or Anzu had noticed that normal Yugi was now back in control until he spoke. "Well, I guess I should leave you to your lessons." He could feel the tension coming from his other Self, resonating in his own soul. It mirrored the dismay he was feeling right now. He could not handle it and he had to get out of here.

"Yugi?!" Katsu gave him an apologetic look. "You don't have to go."

"Yeah, I do. Grandpa will be expecting me home." He tried to give his friend a sympathetic smile but found it difficult.

Sensing there was something deeply troubling him, Anzu got up to see him out. But, keen to allay her best friend's concerns, Katsu told Anzu that she would see him out. Anzu nodded her understanding and let her follow him to the front door.

Katsu fidgeted awkwardly as she watched him bend down to put on his shoes. He was ignoring her. "Hey! Yugi?" She touched his shoulder. It saddened her when she felt him tense. "Please don't be angry with me Yugi?"

"I'm not," Yugi shrugged, not looking Katsu in the eye and focussing on his shoes. "I just... I don't understand what's happening to you. I thought that even though you had a female body you would still be the same Jonouchi. It kind of freaks me out that you could like Kaiba in that way. Especially since you two can't even be in the same room without threatening to kill each other! "

"If it's any help, I don't get it either. To be honest, I'm terrified Yuge! I accepted I might have to stay like this for a month, but I didn't know I would have to deal with hormonal changes and stuff. Honda's already avoiding me cuz he's freaked out. Don't you bail on me too!"

Yugi looked up at her and smiled. "I won't, I'm just scared for you. I wish you wouldn't go on that date with Kaiba."

"It's just dinner and a bit of chat, then home – on my own."

"I dunno.." Yugi sighed. "If you're sure, then I guess it's okay," he muttered, still sounding uncertain. "I'll see you tomorrow, before you go on your date." He turned and scurried away, leaving Katsu on the doorstep, watching him as he rounded the corner and out of view.

Katsu felt bad for him. He was really trying to be supportive and understanding of what she was going through, but was floundering. Whether it was mourning the temporary loss of his best friend and having to deal with him being a her, or whether it was because he thought that Kaiba asking her out unnerving, she was unsure. Maybe it was a bit of both.

::::::::::::

The night of the date came around so quickly that Katsu was worried she still had not had enough time to learn how to act like a sophisticated woman.

"Don't worry about it." Anzu still had her concerns, but did not want to show them and end up with Katsu panicking. If there was one thing she had learned over the last couple of days, it was that Katsu had a tendency to fuss and panic about things that she was unsure about. "Look, just remember no swearing, no belching, no talking with your mouth full or insulting Kaiba and you will be fine."

"You mean I can't wind him up?"

"Definitely no winding up. If he compliments you, don't say anything negative. Just say 'thank you.'"

Katsu let out a sigh. "I'll try." She ran her hands through her golden locks. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all. Maybe she should just ring Kaiba and cancel the date. She really was getting nervous.

"Sit still so I can do your make-up," Anzu told her, wielding what looked like a brown crayon.

"What's that?"

Anzu explained that it was eye liner and that she would use very subtle make-up to highlight her lovely brown eyes. Katsu frowned at her in doubt. Jonouchi would freak at the thought of wearing make-up.

Ten minutes later, Anzu stood up and gestured for Katsu to stand as well so that she could admire her handiwork. She had to admit, Katsu looked elegant in her dark blue silky dress.

Katsu stood and looked down at herself and then glanced sideways into the mirror. "Are you sure this dress doesn't make me look fat? I haven't even eaten yet and you know how much I can eat."

"Don't be silly! You look perfect. You're just used to having a boys narrow hips and small bottom. It's normal for girls to be slightly more rounded."

"If you say so." Katsu felt herself shiver a little with nerves. She held up her hand to see it trembling. Anzu was quick to notice.

"Are you okay? Just relax." Careful to avoid her neatly applied make-up, she reached out and gave her friend a hug. Katsu gave her a nervous cuddle.

Anzu released her and laughed. "It feels almost normal for you to be female now. I could never imagine hugging Jonouchi like that!"

Katsu giggled. "He would probably think his luck had changed. But I can promise you that whatever he's done to annoy you in the past, he regrets. These days, he sees you as a really great friend and respects you. Besides, he knows how much Yugi likes you. He would never take his best friend's girl," she winked.

Anzu blushed furiously. "Yugi and I are just friends!"

"Come on... admit it! You like him, don't you?" Jonouchi had often had his suspicions about the pair of them, but although he had teased Yugi about it, he had never dare confront Anzu. But now that she was indulging in 'girl talk' it felt like a natural thing to ask.

Anzu was flushed. "I admit I do like him... a lot," she looked love struck and dreamy for a moment, and then sighed and became more serious again. "But I don't want to get too involved with him, only to then leave to study dance in New York. It would not be fair on either of us."

"Wanna know something? Me, Yugi and Honda are really impressed with your passion for dancing. I really hope you get to follow your dreams. But don't miss out on your chance with Yugi because of them."

"Thank you. I won't. I know it won't be easy leaving my friends, especially Yugi, but it won't be forever and we can keep in touch via Skype."

"Yeah, you bet we will!" She glanced at the clock and let out a groan "Kaiba will be here soon."

"Let's wait downstairs." The pair went down to the sitting room, where Anzu's parents were sitting watching television and drinking tea.

They looked up in amazement when they saw that Katsu was all dolled up but their daughter was not. Anzu quickly responded to their questioning glances.

"Doesn't Katsu look lovely? Seto kaiba has asked her to go on a date with him!"

Anzu's father nearly choked on his tea. "You mean that selfish tyrant that always gives you and your friends a hard time?!"

"Dad!" Anzu whined, "He's not that bad! Alright, maybe I did say he was horrible, but everyone deserves a chance. Maybe with the right person, he will show that he is actually human."

"Oh well! Good luck Katsu, you might need it." Anzu's father chuckled.

Anzu's mother rolled her eyes at her husband. "Don't listen to him my dear, I'm sure Seto Kaiba is a perfect gentleman."

Katsu was just about to snort and say 'dis is Kaiba we're talking about here' when she remembered Anzu's training. "Thank you Mrs Mazaki. I hope he will be too." She wanted to gag as she said it.

They heard the doorbell ring and Anzu suddenly felt nervous for her friend. "That must be him!" She pushed a frozen ridged Katsu towards the front door.

"Doh... I don't think I can do this! Is it too late to back out?" She was on the verge of blubbering and running to her room to hide.

"You can't back out now. Just remember what I taught you." Anzu did her best to try and sound reassuring.

"Well here goes," Katsu mouthed. Her hand shook as she opened the door to find Seto Kaiba standing on the doorstep, wearing a dark grey suit, pale blue shirt and a navy and silver tie. He was actually smiling nicely – which for some reason, Katsu found disturbing.

"Erm... hello!" She almost giggled like some stupid fan girl but managed to stop herself.

"Good evening Katsu. Are you ready?" He turned to the side and offered her his arm.

WTF am I supposed to do with that?! Was the first thought that went through Katsu's mind. Link my arm through his, I think. She gulped and almost pulled a sick face at Anzu as she looped her arm through the crook of his elbow.

Kaiba noticed the worried look on Anzu's face. "Don't worry Mazaki, I will bring your friend back safely. I'm not the monster you and your friends all think I am." He pivoted on the ball of his foot and marched towards his limousine.

Tottering along in her high heels, Katsu struggled to keep up and was almost dragged along. Fucking stilettos! How the hell did women wear these things all day? They were crippling her feet already.

Isono was waiting at the car and opened the passenger doors for them so that they could get in.

Biting her nails, Anzu watched as the limo drove away. She closed the door and immediately grabbed her phone to tell Yugi that Kaiba had just picked Katsu up for their date.

::::::::::::

Hearing his phone beep, Yugi checked the message he had received from Anzu. He could not believe that his best friend, who hated Kaiba, had actually gone through with it.

Sensing his anxiety, Yami Yugi tried to send him calming thoughts, but all Yugi sensed from his other Self was a wave of concern that was equal to his own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there you have it. Jonouchi's soul is slowly being taken by the Darkness/Shadow Realm. He is fighting to stay, but will he ultimately lose the battle? At the moment, he still is still fluctuating between his male self and his female one. But the shadows are always hungry for souls.


	7. Dinner Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Looking forward to fancy food, Katsu goes on her date with Seto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since it is Easter, this is the first of two chapters or this weekend. I am hoping that this chapter will make you bot laugh and cringe at the same time.

The restaurant that Seto Kaiba took Katsu to dine at boasted two Michelin stars. It was the kind of establishment that someone of Jonouchi's financial standing could only ever dream of eating in.

They were greeted at the door by a very well mannered young woman, dressed in a neat black skirt ending just above the knee, a neatly pressed white blouse with three quarter length sleeves and a black waistcoat. A folded napkin rested over her forearm and she wore white silk gloves on her hands, which Katsu thought was a bit weird.

She bowed to them. "Good evening Mister Kaiba. If you and your guest would like to follow me?" Seto nodded in response and gestured for Katsu to go first. Trying not to appear out of place, Katsu did as she was asked.

Another waiter pulled her chair out and gestured to her to sit. Much to her surprise, he even unfolded her napkin for her and draped it across her lap. It took all her willpower to stop herself telling him she was quite capable of unfolding her own napkin. She just about manage to whisper,"Thank you."

The leather-bound menu was something to behold – much posher than the laminated pieces of card she was more familiar with! It was not an extensive menu, but it did make a point of claiming that all of its produce was of the highest quality, locally sourced from the most ethical suppliers and was seasonal. The prices almost made her shriek. She and her father could eat for two months on the cost of the seven course taster menu.

"What would you like to drink?" Seto's voice cut through her thoughts as she perused the menu.

"Oh!" She wanted to ask for a beer, but the fact that she was only seventeen and... did posh restaurants even serve beer? "I erm..."

"We will have two glasses of your best champagne." He turned to Katsu. "You do drink champagne, don't you?"

You're paying! You bet I do Kaiba. "Yes please."

The waiter left them to choose their meals and went away to get their champagne.

It arrived in slender crystal glasses, that looked so thin they might shatter if touched. Katsu was tempted to pick it up and down it in one, but was almost too scared to touch the delicate glass.

Following Seto's lead, she delicately lifted her glass and sipped at it, relieved when it did not shatter.

The waiter returned a few minutes later to take their order.

They both chose the seven course taster menu, which included the Wagyu beef that Katsu was so desperate to try. Seto also ordered a bottle of Australian Chardonnay.

It was a well known fact that the multi millionaire CEO was still only seventeen and not old enough to drink legally, but the waiter did not even bat an eyelid and accepted his order without question. Katsu guessed that he would probably have the restaurant closed down if they refused. The perks of being Seto Kaiba – no one dared to say 'NO!'

"Tell me a little about yourself?" Seto gave her what almost passed for a nice smile. It made her feel weird.

Just as she had rehearsed with Anzu, she gave him a coy smile. "There's not much to tell really." That's the biggest lie ever! She almost snickered at the thought but managed to continue the charade. "I grew up in Yasu. It's fairly close to Kyoto..."

"I know where it is," Seto interrupted a little tersely. Jonouchi would have snapped back but Katsu bit her tongue.

Seto was a little embarrassed by his outburst. "Please don't feel offended. It's just... I'm not used to listening to what others have to say. I'm sorry. Please continue.."

Did Kaiba just apologise?! "No need to apologise." Kastu tried not to smirk at his awkwardness. "I take it you don't go on many dates?" Why the hell did she just ask that?

"I don't have time. You are the first woman I have bothered to ask out. If I need a woman to accompany me to business functions, I go to an agency. It saves me the time and energy of having to find someone to take." Why was he admitting that?!

"Oh! Yeah... I have heard of those agencies." Sad loser.

There was a slightly awkward silence before Seto spoke again. "So, what's it like being related to Jonouchi?" He asked, with a hint of mockery. It was really difficult for him to control the urge to make a nasty comment about the deadbeat duelist. But he did not want to say anything that might upset Katsu.

"My cousin is an awesome guy! It's a shame I won't get to see him while I'm here." Outwardly, she sighed. Inwardly, she was laughing at how bizarre that statement was. She had just started telling him that Jonouchi had gone to stay with his mother and sister, when their first course arrived.

Is that it?! thought Katsu. One mouthful and it would be gone! "The portions are rather small," she could not resist whispering to Seto. The comment earned a chuckle from the usually frosty CEO.

"My thoughts exactly," he admitted. "Better make it last," he winked.

"That might not be easy," said Katsu, eyeing the sushi morsel and tiny blob of off white gloop on her plate. "What's that?" She poked at it with her pinkie finger.

"It is a pickled ginger gel, I think," he replied, sounding rather uninterested.

Katsu wrinkled her nose at him. "Why can't they just put normal picked ginger on there?"

Seto shrugged. "It's called fine dining." The corner of his mouth twitched into a smirk. Katsu had a point. The ginger and small appetiser was a bit meagre.

"I'm tempted to stab it with my chopstick. What do you think?" He said, with a mischievous glint in his sparkly blue eyes.

"I dare you."

To her utter astonishment, he speared the morsel, swiped it through the 'ginger blob' and shoved it straight in his mouth without even batting an eyelid. Katsu's chin nearly hit the table at his behaviour.

"Mmmm.." he raised an eyebrow at her stunned expression as he chewed on his sushi roll.

This was a side of him she would never have imagined existed. Smiling, she copied him.

Sushi rolls demolished, Seto went back to their earlier conversation. "So, I'm guessing Jonouchi's mother is related to one of your parents? Interesting that you have similar names too: Katsu and Katsuya."

A knot of dread that he might be suspicious, threatened to choke her. But thinking quickly and keeping her cool, Katsu explained. "Our mothers are twins. They both got married on the same day! They were also pregnant at roughly the same time and wanted similar names for their babies. Katsuya is just a couple of weeks older than me."

"Oh! Interesting." Seto studied her. "I can certainly see the family resemblance. But at least your personality is nothing like his. He and I don't get on. I find him... annoying." That was an understatement; he was being as polite about the Mutt as he possibly could.

Yeah, if only you knew, rich boy! She thought to herself, smugly.

"Are you okay?" Seto was looking at her with concern.

She had not realised that she was gripping the tablecloth in her tightly clenched fist. "If you took the time to get to know my cousin, you would like him," she forced, as pleasantly as possible.

At the suggestion he should get to know Jonouchi, Seto tried not to snap at her. "I apologise if I said anything offensive," his jaw tensed. "But his attitude and behaviour riles me up somewhat. I will never accept him as a credible duelist. I don't know why Yugi bothers trying to help him."

It took all her will power not to say something nasty. But the food was too good to waste by throwing a hissing fit and running out of the restaurant. And besides, she was actually enjoying getting to talk to Kaiba on the same level. He was still a stuck up jerk, but he was a sexy one.

Oh My God! Did she just have that thought?! Telling herself to focus, she almost spat out her wine.

"Is that the only thing that's important to you? How good someone is at dueling?" There's more to Yugi and his friends than that. They are loyal to each other. Honda is strong and reliable, Anzu gives everyone encouragement and Jonouchi will fight anyone that tries to hurt them. He thinks the world of the little guy... I mean of Yugi."

"Whatever," Seto shrugged. "I have no respect for any of them, except perhaps Yugi. But that will change when I defeat him fair and square in a duel. I will never be their friend, no matter how hard they try to nauseate me with their little lectures."

She could have launched into a lecture about how Jonouchi had learned more from losing than he had from winning. And how he would willingly lose every game he played for the rest of his life, if it meant that his dad would stop drinking, his parents would reconcile and his sister's eye surgery was guaranteed to be a success. Instead, she kept quiet and finished the food on her plate.

Sensing he might have made her feel awkward, Seto changed the subject to his younger brother. Katsu had to pretend she knew nothing about Mokuba, but it warmed her heart to hear the way Kaiba spoke about his little brother. Just as she would crawl through mud and burning embers for Shizuka, so Seto Kaiba would for Mokuba – even if they did have vastly different ways of showing they cared. Kaiba could almost be forgiven for the way he had treated Mokuba at Death-T.

The rest of the evening went smoothly. Refusing to let her see how much it came to, Seto paid the bill before leading her out to where his limo was already waiting.

The breeze wafted gently off the ocean, ruffling their hair and Katsu took a deep breath. "Mmm... I love the beach and the sea."

"Would you care to walk along the sand? I think the tide is out," he said.

"Erm..." She was unsure. Part of her wanted to but she was fearful it might seem romantic. If he tried anything, she could always kick him where it hurt and make a run for it. "Yeah, okay."

Seto nodded and told Isono to drive the car down to the car park at the far end of the sea wall and wait for them there.

They made their way down the steps that were cut into the sea wall and onto the paved walkway. Seto offered her his hand but she declined.

The shoes Katsu was wearing were almost impossible for her to walk in, so she took them off, before stepping off the pathway and down onto the sand.

The tide was indeed right out, revealing a vast expanse of damp sandy beach. The area on which they chose to walk was reasonably firm compacted sand, and it felt cool and spongy beneath her feet.

Katsu could be forgiven for thinking that the light cooling breeze, the gentle noise of the ocean and the glow of moonlight upon the surface of the water and on the wetter areas of sand was somehow romantic.

They were fairly quiet as they strolled. Katsu tried to keep an arm's length distance between them but Seto moved slightly closer and to her horror, she felt his fingers brush against her hand to link her fingers with his.

She gulped. Should she shove him away and tell him to back off? If she did, she might sound too much like Jonouchi and he might suspect something was not quite right. Grinning and bearing it, she let him hold her hand but tried not to appear too responsive.

Her hand and arm must have gone stiff because Seto turned his head to look at her with concern. "Are you okay? You're not cold are you?"

"No, I'm fine." Admittedly, it was a bit chilly in just a thin dress, light jacket and no shoes. No wonder girls were always shivering and moaning they were cold!

He grunted and nodded his head. "I never thought I would say something like this to anyone, but I am enjoying your company." Not wanting to appear as if he was enjoying himself too much, he tried to make his voice sound as bland and uninteresting as possible, but failed miserably.

"Really?!" Katsu knew she sounded much too shocked. "I mean... Jonouchi told me you didn't like other people, so it's nice to know you like being with Me!" He seemed oblivious to the irony in her voice.

"I do. And for the record, it's stupid people I have an issue with."

"I guess that rules out most of the population, huh?! But it's nice to know you don't think I'm stupid!" If only you knew who I really am!

Her comment made him laugh. Katsu tried not to grimace. Why was it always so disturbing to hear Kaiba laughing?

At the other end of the beach, he gestured for her to go up the steps first. Remembering to thank him, she started to climb the first step and felt his hand touch the small of her back. It was just a friendly touch but it still startled her and she shot up the steps like an Olympic Sprinter out of the blocks.

Seto ran up after her. "You're quite an athlete!" He grinned.

"I... er.. I run for my school." Sort of a lie – Jonouchi had been kicked off the track team in middle school for urinating on Ushio's kit, underneath the bleachers. "I'm actually the fastest girl in the school." That probably was not a lie.

"That's great! I run to keep fit. Maybe we could go for a run together?"

"Yeah... maybe." She was wary of it becoming a second date. It was too risky. Tonight really was meant to be a one-off.

"Good! How about tomorrow afternoon? Six thirty. I usually run six laps of my estate, which is about five miles. Is that okay?"

"Five miles is..." A piece of cake. "fine."

"Do you need picking up or can you make your own way to my mansion?" He asked, opening the car door for her.

"I can make my own way, thanks."

Both seated and belted in, the limo drove them back to Anzu's house.

::::::::::::

There was absolutely no way that Anzu could go to bed until Katsu got home safely.

Yugi had to work the evening shift in the store, but had come round to lend some support after closing up. He now felt far more in control of his emotions than he had the previous day, when he had been a little irritated by Katsu's decision to date Kiba. He was back to his more usual, cheerfully optimistic self and was vowing to be stoic about the whole thing.

Anzu glanced at the clock. "It's gone ten!"

"Don't worry Anzu. Jonouchi... I mean Katsu can look after herself. And ten is not that late anyway."

"I know. I just worry that Kaiba might try something and she reacts by punching him, and then all hell breaks loose. What if Kaiba finds out that she's really Jonouchi turned into a woman and... Oh dear! I can't even begin to imagine..." She was stopped mid rant by Yugi's hands on her shoulders and his gentle, calming smile in front of her face.

"Hey! Stop and breath, okay? Nothing's going to happen. I trust Jonouchi. He might be struggling to maintain control of his mind, but he's a fighter and there's no way he would let Katsu get into any awkward situations that might land her in trouble." As soon as he finished speaking, he started to have doubts.

Yami Yugi appeared beside him. "Try to have faith in our friend, Aibou."

"Yeah, I'm trying Other Me. It's just that trouble and Jonouchi often go together."

"I trust Jonouch to not allow Katsu to disgrace herself."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Yugi mumbled out loud, causing Anzu to look at him in confusion. "Oh!" He winked at her. "I was just talking to the other Me! He says we should trust Katsu."

Anzu laughed, but she was still feeling worried. "Yeah, I'm probably being silly. But I can't help it! I know how much Jonouchi and Kaiba hate each other and I'm worried Katsu will slip up and let it show."

"You said yourself that Katsu is doing really well at being convincing. There's nothing we can do except wait for her to get home."

"Yeah, you're right. Would you like a hot drink and we can snuggle on the sofa while we wait?" At the thought of snuggling on the sofa with Anzu, he nodded enthusiastically.

Beside him, Yami Yugi gave him the thumbs up.

::::::::::::

The limo pulled up and parked outside Anzu's house at about ten thirty pm.

A screen divided the driver's compartment from the rear of the car, offering privacy for the two occupants. Taken by his female companion, Seto could not resist the urge to reach for her soft, delicately manicured hand.

Katsu looked down in horror at the way Seto's own well manicured hand enveloped hers and hurriedly moved it out of the way. It was possibly the wrong move because with her hand removed, his hand now rested on her thigh.

Slightly embarrassed, he cleared his throat and gingerly removed his hand. "I apologise if I am making you feel uncomfortable."

"No! Not at all. I'm not uncomfortable." She squeezed her knees together defensively. "I have never been on a date with a guy before." That was the truth!

"I see." He smiled at her rather sweetly. "Would you like me to walk you to your door?"

"You don't have to." She reached for the door handle to make her escape, but the door would not open due to the automatic locking system. And in her panic to escape, she had no idea how to release it. She had also forgotten to unclasp her seat belt.

"Allow me," Seto leaned across her and pressed a small button next to the door handle. There was a click and the button on the door lock popped up. He then reached down and undid her seatbelt. Katsu sat as still as a rock.

As he moved to sit back, he paused and looked at her mouth. The way her teeth were working her lip nervously and the way her tongue popped out for just a second to moisten her bottom lip drove him wild.

Katsu could now feel his breath on her face. He was getting way too close for comfort.

Unable to resist, he closed the gap between their lips in an attempt at a chaste kiss. Katsu clamped her lips together as tightly as possible, grimaced and turned away. His lips brushed her jaw.

Feeling her tense up, Seto paused but did not give up immediately. Determined to break through her defences, he hovered, seductively pleading with his deep, baby blue eyes.

Her own chocolate browns gazed into his for a second, before she mustered the will power to bring her hands up to his chest and push him away as gently, but firmly, as she possibly could. "Not on the first date!" She squeaked.

He sat back and flattened down the front of his suit jacket. "I don't know what came over me. I just... I find you attractive."

"Nah... No worries." She pushed the door open and all but fell out onto the pavement.

Seto leaped out and ran to her side. "We're still on for our run tomorrow though, aren't we?"

Katsu smiled. She could never ever have imagined that Seto Kaiba; the frosty CEO, would behave like a lovestruck schoolboy! There was a lightness to him and he was almost bouncing around with joyfulness.

Joyfulness?! That was a strange word to associate with Kaiba. The only joy he ever showed was when he humiliated someone and made them look small in front of others.

This was definitely a new side to Seto kaiba.

"Goodnight Katsu," he called after her as she walked up the path to Anzu's front door.

Katsu turned around and waved. "Night Kaib..a.. Seto." Oh God! Had he noticed the near slip up? Shoving her key in the door lock, she dashed inside .

Standing on the pavement, arms folded. Seto watched her. She was so funny that it made his heart flutter. He found himself respecting her for refusing a kiss on the first date: the girl had standards.

The fact that she had called him Kaiba, before correcting herself and calling him Seto was cute. The only person that usually called him Seto was Mokuba. People generally called him Mister Kaiba, while Yugi and his friends called him Kaiba. He was glad that she felt comfortable enough to call him Seto.

Smiling, he got back into his car and told Isono to take him home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that was an interesting evening! Far from the disaster everyone expected.  
> Please let me know what you thought.


	8. Nowhere to Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second of my promised Easter Holiday updates.   
> Katsu meets Seto to go running with him. Unfortunately, it does not go too well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Smut and a bit of swearing. Also features the female monthly menstrual cycle.

Closing the front door behind her, Katsu heaved a big sigh of relief – she had survived an evening with Moneybags.

There was a light on upstairs and another on in the sitting room, but the house was quiet.

She dumped the crippling stilettos in the hall and trod the sand from the beach, that was still clinging to her stockinged feet, through the hall and into the sitting room to find Yugi and Anzu both fast asleep on the sofa.

It warmed her heart to see her two friends cuddled up together under Anzu's fleecy pink comforter. Yugi was sitting stretched out with his feet on the pouffe, while Anzu had her legs tucked up underneath her on the sofa and was on her side, using the front of Yugi's shoulder as a pillow.

They were always so careful not to show any affection in public, but it was so very obvious that they had the hots for one another. Yugi was always the first to defend Anzu's honour, and whenever Jonouchi teased him about her he would go bright red and deny it.

But seeing them like this was the proof she needed. What a photo opportunity! If only Jonouchi could afford a decent phone with camera!

Katsu still possessed the same devilish streak she had as Jonouchi and her eyes were drawn to Anzu's brand new I-phone sitting on the coffee table. "Meh, heh, heh," she chuckled to herself, reaching for the device.

The flash woke them both up!

"Huh!" Yugi blinked, rubbing at one eye with his free hand, while trying to work out where he was.

Suddenly realising his position, he blushed, timidly removing his other arm from around Anzu's torso.

Anzu sat upright looking dazed and confused. She yawned and mumbled, "what was that flashing?" She suddenly realised what her friend was doing when she saw a grinning Katsu holding her phone. "Honestly! You're no better than Jonouchi," she scolded. However, she secretly enjoyed being caught having a cuddle with Yugi.

"Sorry! But the pair of you looked so cute, I couldn't resist." She grinned sheepishly and handed the phone to Anzu. "You can delete it if you want."

"No, it's okay. Anyway, it's not how it looks. We were both tired, it was getting chilly and I only had one blanket," She stated, rather matter of factly.

Again, the denial that she felt anything for him, and it made Yugi slump in disappointment.

Yami Yugi sensed his disappointment. "She doesn't mean it Aibou," he said, supportively.

"Doesn't she?" Yugi huffed through their connection.

Neither of his friends noticed his sullen pout because Anzu had moved on to grilling Katsu about her evening.

Not wishing to share the hand holding or nearly kiss, Katsu was rather coy about it. "Yeah, it was okay. We ate, talked and he gave me a lift home."

"Are you sure that's all? Come on Katsu! I'm sure it was more exciting than that! Tell us what you two talked about? Did you get through the evening without arguing or making him suspicious?"

Katsu shrugged and tried to hide a blush. "I enjoyed the food. We walked on the beach. Nothing else happened."

"You have been out for nearly four hours! It doesn't take that long to eat a meal!" Yugi sounded rather more accusing than he had intended.

Katsu faked a yawn. "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."

Suspicion growing, Yugi and Anzu looked at one another. Yugi could not bring himself to comprehend the idea that his friend might have actually enjoyed her evening with Kaiba.

Anzu was not ready to let it drop and wanted to know more. "So, are you seeing him for another date?" She asked.

"Of course not!" Her voice was wavering and not at all convincing. "Okay! So, I might be going for a run with him. And before you jump to conclusions, it's not a date."

Yugi's brows knotted together in concern. "You don't actually like him do you?"

Katsu tried to look away so that her friends could not see her embarrassment. "He wasn't as bad as I thought, okay?" Did she just admit to her friends that she liked Seto Kaiba? She wanted to run and hide but that would be as good as admitting there might be something between them. She stood rooted to the spot and tried not to let it show that she was feeling confused, and was ashamed of her feelings.

But Anzu's natural intuition enabled her to instantly pick up on Katsu's body language.

"Oh My God!" Hands flying to her mouth, she gasped. "You have romantic feelings for him, don't you?"

When Katsu squirmed and did not immediately deny it, Yugi's jaw nearly dropped to the floor and he became visibly distressed. Had something romantic happened between them? This was up there with some of the worst things that had ever happened. "No way! You can't! You're still Jonouchi inside, remember?"

Katsu started spluttering. "Of.. of course I fucking know who I am!" She snapped, rather defensively. She immediately felt guilty for snapping at her two friends. They were right to be worried. "Okay, so he was nice and these stupid girl hormones are messing with my head. But I'm not gonna do anything like that with him. So stop worrying. I ain't a tranny or gay, or nothing like that!"

"We know that Katsu." said Anzu, as calmly as she could. "But physically, you are a woman. If you were to say... date a girl, you might not think it's gay but it look gay to other people. If you dated a guy, it would not look gay, even if you thought you were being gay. It's understandable that your female mind might see Kaiba as attractive." She faltered when she noticed the horrified looks on her friends faces. "... I think I will shut up now."

"But we cant let Katsu date Kaiba!" Yugi reiterated. "What will happen in one month when you change back into Jonouchi?" He could not even begin to imagine how awkward it might be if Kaiba was there when she changed back.

"Stop with the worrying Yuge. I know that dating Kaiba ain't right – hell! None of this shit is right! When I see him tomorrow, I will tell him that I don't wanna date him."

Yugi and Anzu both gasped. "You're seeing him TOMORROW?!" They shrieked simultaneously.

::::::::::::

That night, sleep was slow in coming for Katsu. She was unable to forget the fact that when he actually smiled, he looked nice. Or, the way his fingers had gently linked with hers as they strolled along the beach. Or, the smell of his cologne as he leaned across to help her with the car door.

And, when she did finally doze off, she was plagued by disturbing erotic dreams – must have been the wine and rich food!

At around three in the morning, she woke up hot, thirsty and with a headache. She got out of bed and went down to the kitchen to get a drink of water.

After gulping down the first glass, she poured another and sat down at the kitchen table. This feeling was unpleasant; it was like her biorhythms were all off or something.

By Jonouchi's standards, she had not overeaten but her tummy was gurgling and felt bloated and her lower back ached.

She was just about to go upstairs and try to get back to sleep, when she heard the floorboards creak. She looked up to see Anzu standing in the doorway, sleepily rubbing her eyes.

"You okay?" Anzu whispered, with a yawn. "Only I woke up to use the bathroom and noticed the light was on downstairs."

"Yeah, I'm... " Katsu began to lie and then changed her mind. "No, not really. I don't wanna be like this any longer. I wanna go back to being Jonouchi." She started crying. "Stupid hormones," sniff, "making me blub," sniff, sniff. "What if Bakura's dark half lied about the spell wearing off and I stay like this forever?"

Anzu tried to smile supportively and moved to sit down on the chair beside her. She patted her friend on the back and rubbed small, reassuring circles. "I'm sure he's not lying. Perhaps we should go and see Ryou tomorrow and see if he's had any luck finding a de-spell, or something. I'm a bit worried about him anyway. He hasn't been in school." She handed Katsu a tissue.

Thanking her, Katsu blew her nose and nodded. "I feel so stupid! Jonouchi is a tough guy and never cries over nothin – well, not much. But I'm like some silly teenage girl on her period!" She gasped. "God! I won't have one of those, will I?"

Anzu grimaced. "I hope not. I kind of haven't thought about that. But I'm sure your... erm... internal organs haven't changed, have they?" She did not look too sure.

Katsu rubbed her tummy and looked down. "I think they have. I feel different inside and out. I feel a bit strange."

"Okay, well let's not worry about periods for now. But if you get tender breasts, bloated tummy, can't stop peeing, heavy legs, back ache, head ache, tiredness or feel tearful and snappy, then let me know and we can deal with it together."

As she ran through the list of likely symptoms, Katsu's face fell. "You get all those things?!"

"Sometimes, but they're not always too bad. And not usually all at once." She bit her lip. "Then of course, there's the bleeding. It can be quite heavy some months." She waved her hand. "But let's hope you don't have to go through any of that."

"I bloody hope not! Being a girl sucks!" A rather disturbing thought crossed her mind and she grimaced. Anzu gave her a questioning look.

"What is it?"

"No! It's too disgusting to talk about."

Anzu continued to look at her so she caved. "If I got a womb, does that mean I could get pregnant?"

The thought of her friend with Kaiba went through Anzu's mind, making her grimace. "You're not thinking of doing anything like... like that with him, are you?!"

"Geez Anzu! Course I ain't! I was just thinking about what my body could be capable of, that's all."

"Well, that's a relief," Anzu let out a relieved breath, "let's not dwell on things like that. It makes me feel ill."

Stifling a yawn, she stood up. "I'm going back to bed. You should try and get some sleep too." She patted her friend on the shoulder.

"I don't think I can. My head's too messed up," Katsu replied, sadly.

Anzu would never have hugged Jonouchi due to his pervert tendencies. But it no longer concerned her that somewhere inside her friend's female body and mind, Jonouchi was still there, fighting to not be pushed into his soul room and locked away.

::::::::::::

With her friends at school, Katsu spent another day alone in the house. For three days now she had pretended to be sick. But she knew it would not be long before Anzu's parents started to ask questions about why their exchange student was refusing to attend school.

She tried to concentrate on the school work her friends had brought home for her to do, but her mind could not focus. Instead, all she could worry about was her second date with Kaiba later on. No! She could not think of going running with him as a date.

Jonouchi was a decent athlete. But he had been too rebellious and badly behaved for the track team. But if it suited him, he could easily out run most of the other kids in school – except maybe Yugi, who was like a little whippet!

She decided that she would go and behave like trash, act laddish and run Kaiba's legs off. Kaiba would be so embarrassed at being beaten by a girl who spat and swore a lot, that he would decide not ask her out again – that was the plan, anyway.

The day dragged and by the time Anzu got home, she was restless and almost climbing the walls.

Kitted out in the sports bra, running leggings and the technical sports tee-shirt that Anzu had lent her, Katsu bravely took the bus on her own, across to the posh side of town, where Kaiba's mansion stood, dwarfing the other fine houses in the area.

Compared to the cramped apartment blocks in the run down part of Domino, where Jonouchi lived, it was clean and well maintained. The air quality was far better too.

Taking a deep breath, she breathed in the scent of the cherry trees that proliferated in this part of town, and marched towards the heavy wrought iron gates that guarded the entrance to the mansion.

Pressing the button on the gate, she waited for a response. There was a crackle, followed by the tinny sounding voice of the new housekeeper Kaiba had employed to replace Hobson. "Good afternoon. Please state your purpose." It was a female voice.

She wandered what Kaiba had done with the body of his former butler, Hobson. She and her friends had not bothered to hang around after that poisonous, shrivelled little man had been electrocuted during Death-T. Did the woman on the intercom know about her predecessor?

"Oh! Hi. K... Katsu here. I have an appointment with Seto Kaiba."

"Ah.. Katsu. Mister Kaiba is expecting you. Please come in." The lock on the gate clunked and the gate swung open smoothly and quietly.

She marched up the driveway and the door was opened before she had chance to ring the bell. A slender, attractive, middle aged woman in an apron just like the one Yugi's mother often wore, greeted her and invited her in.

She was lead into the very same reception room that Jonouchi had been taken to with Yugi, after they had literally been kidnapped outside the arcade and forced to play the Russian Roulette eating game, which would have lead to Jonouchi's death had Yugi not outwitted Mokuba. She shivered at the memory.

Even if he was still a bit of a jerk, Kaiba had come a long way since they had first encountered him. In fact, he actually seemed kind of nice now... NICE! God! What was she thinking?!

Staring at the large oil painting of Seto and Mokuba hanging on the wall, she wished she had a set of darts that she could throw at it.

Just as a snicker escaped her, making her sound more like Jonouchi, the door opened and Seto walked in. "Ah! I see you are admiring the painting. It is by a very talented local artist who started life in the same orphanage as myself and Mokuba. My charity is helping fund her through art school."

Kaiba ran a charity?! Katsu regretted wanting to throw darts at it. "That's... that's.. I didn't know you had a charity?!"

"Yes, I set up a foundation to help orphans from around the world. But I don't like to boast about it. I have a reputation as a ruthless businessman. If it were to get out that I was kind and generous, it would give people the idea that I can be taken advantage of," he said blandly.

Katsu raised an eyebrow. "So if I were to tell anyone?"

"Then I would be forced to have you killed," he smirked.

Katsu could not tell if he were joking or not, but judging by the Kaiba she knew from past encounters, she would not put it past him.

Gulping, she focussed on the vest he had on. He was like a beanpole but the muscles in his arms looked hard and strong. Her eyes wandered down to the tiny pair of running shorts he was also wearing. They made him look well endowed. Why was she even looking there?!

Blushing, she quickly looked away.

"If you are ready, shall we go and warm up?" He suggested, giving her a comical look.

Oh god! He knew she had been peeking at his barely hidden booty.

"Yeah, why not," she tried to say casually, but it came out a bit squeaky.

Outside, Seto started jogging on the spot, mixing in a bit of high knees with some fast feet, heel flicks and a few lunges. Katsu sat on the bench, watching and waiting. He obviously took this seriously.

"You should warm up and do a bit of static stretching," he told her, swinging his leg to mobilise his hips. The motion made his booty jiggle. God! Why could she not stop looking at it?

"Nah, I'm good." But she did get up to jog on the spot and do a few star jumps. Anything to stop herself looking at his pert little butt and the bulge inside those tiny running shorts.

The moment they started to run, Katsu felt a bit odd. Everything about the movements she was making felt wrong. For a start, she had these mounds on her chest that were restricting her by jiggling about.

She still seemed to be a decent athlete but lacked the power and speed that Jonouchi always had. She just was not prepared for the differences between the male and female physique. Her hips moved differently, altering her gait. There was no way that she could out run Kaiba with this body!

She was also becoming aware of a mild stitch and dragging feeling in her lower abdomen and back.

"Are you okay?" Seto enquired, halfway through their run. Katsu sensed that he was holding back slightly, so as not to leave her behind.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit tired today."

"You are actually running really well. Eight minute mile pace is very respectable."

"It is!" They were not going as slowly as she thought they were, but it was still slow for Jonouchi. "What pace do you normally run?" She asked.

"Depends. Probably nearer seven min miles, sometimes faster if I'm doing speed work."

"Oh, right. Yeah, me too if I'm racing," she lied. Chasing guys that needed beating up and running away from the cops more like!

They finished their run with a sprint and Katsu felt a bit pissed off that she could not out-sprint him.

Breathing heavily from his sprint, Seto laughed. "Well done. Mokuba sometimes runs a lap or two with me, but I usually run on my own. It's nice to have someone else to run with."

"I always thought you were a .." Miserable bastard, "loner. At least, that's what my friends tell me," she hastily added.

He straightened up and grabbed the towel that his housekeeper had placed on the railing next to the private tennis court and started to rub the sweat from his face neck and arms. "In their eyes I am a loner. But I stopped relying on other people when the people I trusted dumped Mokuba and Me in

an orphanage. After that, I learned to do things my own way."

"Yeah, but sometimes it's nice to have friends you can rely on," she cleared her throat. "My cousin was in quite a lot of trouble before he made friends with Yugi. Having such a good friend helped him turn his life around."

Seto shrugged. "Whatever." He decided against telling her he held no respect for the Mutt. "Yugi and his friends are always lecturing me about friendship and teamwork. But I am my own team and I'm not interested in being friends with them. I wish they would just respect my choices. Even Mokuba has started nagging me to make more friends since returning from Pegasus' Island." He threw the towel onto the ground for someone else to pick up. "Shall we go and get something to drink?"

Feeling hot and thirsty, Katsu nodded.

Seto took her into a spacious, modern kitchen. The floorspace was larger than Jonouchi's entire flat!

"What would you like?" He pressed the button on the large chiller and a bottle of mineral water dropped into the dispenser.

"I'll have a coke please?" Nodding, Seto pressed the button and a bottle of diet coke was dispensed.

As soon as Katsu started drinking, her tummy griped and let out a loud gurgle. Her immediate response was to let out a loud belch and blame Honda. But that was what Jonouchi would do and she was no longer Him. Feeling self conscious, she let out a belch and apologised. "I must be drinking too fast." She rubbed her abdomen. It felt a bit tender and uncomfortable.

Seto smiled at her warmly. "That's okay. Do you want something to eat?"

"No, I'm good, ta!" Since when did she ever turn down food?! But she just did not feel hungry. If anything, she felt a bit dizzy and nauseous.

"Did you bring a wash kit and change of clothing? You are welcome to use my facilities. I thought that after we clean up, we could watch a movie in my private cinema and then have something to eat here. Mokuba is dying to meet you properly."

"Oh! I didn't bring anything to change into. It didn't occur to me."

"That doesn't matter. I will tell my live in housekeeper to lend you something of hers." The assertive way in which Seto spoke ruffled Katsu's feathers. Why did he always have to act so superior? It was that 'I always get what I want' attitude that Jonouchi could not stand about the jerk.

"It's okay. I can't stay. I promised my friends we would study together tonight. We have important mid term exams coming up in a couple of weeks."

Seto looked a little irked but shrugged away her excuse. "Why study with those losers? They are not the sharpest tools in the shed. Let them fail together and I will help you with your studies."

"But I promised."

He was still not giving up and his face morphed into that superior expression that always made Jonouchi want to punch him. "I passed all of my final exams when I was fourteen. I gained a degree in business before I turned sixteen. The only reason I went to school at all is because the authorities threatened to take Mokuba into care if we didn't attend. If you wish to pass your exams then let me help?"

"Nah! I told you Kaiba," she snapped. "I made a promise to friends. I ain't letting them down!"

"You're starting to sound just like your cousin." He glared at her for a moment and then shrugged. "If that's your choice, then I can't stop you. But if you change your mind, the offer remains."

The way he scrutinised her made her shudder. She had very nearly blown it with that irritable retort. But she was feeling so tense all of a sudden. And why was she suddenly struggling not to burst into tears? "I'm sorry if I snapped at you. I'm afraid Me and Jonouchi share a lot of family traits." Suddenly feeling pressure on her bladder, she nearly crossed her legs. God, she would never get used to this feeling of not being able to hold on. It already felt like she was wetting herself. "Do you mind if I use your bathroom before I go home?"

"Of course not! There is one just through those doors and first on your left."

Without thanking him, she scurried to the bathroom as quickly as her heavy, weary legs would carry her.

Locking the door, she fiddled around with trying to pull her leggings and undies down – jeez what a faff it was.

She stared in horror at the sight of what looked like a patch of blood. Luckily her shorts and undies were a dark colour so it was not easy to see and it was not a large amount, but it was just enough to make her panic.

She finished peeing and lifted her butt cheek to peer into the bowl and nearly screamed when she saw the colour of the water.

Hands trembling, she wiped herself and then dared to look at the paper streaked with red.

The trembling became worse when she realised that this was real and not just her imagination. No wonder her abdomen had felt strange.

Leaning forward and hugging her knees, she stayed sat on the toilet and rocked her body back and forward, all the while fretting and trembling. This was not fair! Bakura you bastard! Why did you have to go and do this to me?

She had no idea how long she had sat there until she heard a knock on the door, accompanied with a worried. "Katsu? Are you okay in there?"

Shit! Shit! Shit! What should she say to him? What did real girls do? She could not recall a time when Anzu had ever told any of them she was on her period. They just kind of accepted that for a few days each month she was more prickly and impatient than usual, and they kept out of her way. "I'm okay. Just came over a bit dizzy. I will be alright in a minute," she called out.

"Would you like me to get Isono to take you home?"

"Yes please," she answered quickly and without hesitation.

"Okay, I'm just calling him now," came the worried response. Kaiba was worried?!

Urging herself to gather her senses and think straight, she rolled up some toilet paper and placed it inside her undies. That should at least suffice until she could get home and seek Anzu's help.

Peering at her crotch in the mirror, she was relieved to be wearing black because it did not show. The rolled up paper was bloody uncomfortable though.

Steeling herself, she unlocked the door and stepped into the hallway. Seto immediately placed a steadying hand on her arm.

"Are you anaemic? You look extremely pale," he said with concern.

"I dunno," she gave an embarrassed laugh. "I might be." Would she lose enough blood to make her anaemic? She remembered her mother needing to take iron tablets.

She still felt traumatised as Seto helped her to the car. She could feel the toilet tissue working its way up her bum crack until it rested on her coccyx and she prayed that she would not leave a red skid mark on his cream leather seats. She ended up sitting on her hand.

Even though she said she was okay, he insisted on climbing into the car and going with her. "I want to make sure you get home safely," he told her.

If he had guessed what was wrong, he did not say anything. But he did frown at the way she was sitting on her hand.

The moment the car pulled up outside Anzu's, she grabbed at the door handle, fumbling to escape.

She nearly swore when the door would not open.

"Safety lock, remember?" Said Seto. "Wait there, I will open the door and help you." He reached across and pressed the door release.

Fearful of leakage and afraid to move, she sat trembling and almost on the verge of hysterical panic. She seethed and swore silently under her breath: What had the strong, wilful, independent Jonouchi been reduced to?

Seto meanwhile, had jumped out and had run round to open the door from the outside. He offered a hand to help her out of the car but she swatted it away. "I'm not a fucking weakling!" She snapped. Without thinking.

"I didn't say you were. Screw the independent woman act. You're sick, so let me help you." The helping hand was back, taunting her. Ignoring it, she crawled out of the car, not daring to look at the seat. If she had looked, she would have seen that it was not stained.

Although not surprised to see her back so soon, Anzu was shocked when she saw how pale and drawn Katsu looked. A rather worried looking Seto Kaiba had accompanied her to the door and was dismayed when Katsu tried to dismiss him.

"I don't know what's wrong with her!" He tried to inform Anzu. At the suspicious look Anzu gave him, he quickly added. "Before you snap my head off, it is nothing that I have done."

"I wasn't suggesting..." Anzu started but hesitated when Seto's expression became worried. He looked like he wanted to come inside. Katsu had already scurried upstairs without saying goodbye to him so Anzu thanked him and told him that she would take care of whatever it was that was ailing her friend.

Seto scowled and looked ready to argue but conceded. "Very well, I will ring to see how she is later." He pivoted on his heel and marched away. Anzu quickly shut the door and ran upstairs to find that her friend had locked herself in the bathroom and would not come out.

She hammered on the door. "Katsu? Please open the door and tell me what's wrong? Did he try something?"

"It's nothing to do with Kaiba. It's too embarrassing.."

Anzu heard the toilet flush and some muttering, swearing and snuffling. A feeling of dread surged through her. No! It could not be what she was thinking. That was just too cruel.

"Look, it's quite natural for women to experience what I think you have. Let me help you?"

The door opened and a tear stained face peered out at her. "This..." she sniffed. "is the ultimate humiliation." It was said with such venom and despair that it broke Anzu's heart.

"Can I come in?" She asked, softly.

Nodding, Katsu stepped back from the door so that she could enter. "I know we covered this stuff in sex ed. But I kind of wasn't paying much attention. I was writing little notes about menstrual women being bitchy and passing them to Honda. We thought it was some kind of big joke."

Anzu pouted at her and rolled her eyes. "Well, it's not a joke." She went to the cupboard and pulled out several different types of sanitary item and started to explain how to use them.

Katsu had never felt so miserable in her life. Even being beaten up by Hirutani's gang was better than what she was suffering. She just wanted to go back to being Jonouchi so that she could confront that menace from the Millennium Ring. Maybe she would pull those pointers off one by one and throw them in a furnace.

::::::::::::

While Katsu was in the shower, Anzu rang Yugi and tried to explain as best she could, the ladies problem that Katsu was trying to deal with.

It was the sort of thing that was embarrassing to talk about with a male friend, but Yugi tried to be very understanding, even though he did listen with a flushed face and a terrible, sinking feeling of dread and concern.

It had really upset him when his best friend had been turned into a girl, but he was starting to come to terms with it, and was now dealing with it pretty well.

But this was a little beyond his comprehension. He had reassured himself that his friend had only taken on the external appearance of a female because of the shadow spell, and that his friend was basically still a boy internally. But if that was the case, how would it be possible for him to have a period?

He shuddered at the thought of what his friend must be going through. He had not realised that he had started stuttering until Anzu asked him if he was alright.

No! He was not alright. "Y.. yes t.. thanks... I think so..." He paused and muttered quietly. "Poor Jonouchi."

"Try not to worry about Jonouchi, Yugi. Now that she is over her initial hysteria, Katsu is being very brave. I'm looking after her. But I was thinking that maybe you could speak to Bakura and see if you can persuade him... I know the other Yugi is trying not to play Shadow Games any more, but I wondered if maybe you could threaten Bakura nicely, with a Shadow Game, and when he loses, he has to reverse the spell."

Yugi paused for a moment. He had a bad feeling about this. "Hold on a moment Anzu. I will ask Him."

Anzu nearly jumped when Yami Yugi's deep voice responded a moment later. "Do you know what you are asking of me Anzu? You saw what I almost did to our friend Ryou Bakura. Aibou's soul and Bakura's soul could both be hurt."

"I.. I'm sorry. I should not have suggested it. But I wouldn't have asked if the situation wasn't desperate. I don't think Katsu can cope with what is happening inside her body. But please, don't do it if it will put yourself or Ryou at risk."

Yami Yugi thought about it for a moment. He would do anything to help a friend in trouble, and he did not need to ask his Aibou if he was prepared to take the risk of confronting the Spirit of the Ring, because he could already hear him saying they should.

"Okay, I will do it. I will find a way to do it so that no one, except the Spirit of the Ring is put at risk."

"Thank you Yugi. Please be careful."

"I will. I will speak to you later. After I have dealt with bakura."

They said a nervous farewell and hung up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just when you thought that things could not get any worse for Katsu! Hope it was not too crude.  
> Let me now what you think.


	9. Shadow Battle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Worried that their friend Jonouchi is being lost in favour of Katsu, Yugi and Honda confront the Spirit of the Ring, with dire consiquences

After his phone conversation with Anzu ended, Yami Yugi took a few moments to steady himself.

"Are you really sure you want to go through with this Aibou? Confronting Bakura again could be dangerous. The spirit that dwells within the Ring is volatile and I have no idea how he will react."

"I trust you Other Me. And we have the Puzzle to protect us. My only concern is not hurting Ryou." Yugi responded, trying to display his usual positive outlook.

Yami Yugi nodded. "That is my concern too. But we also have to do something to help Jonouchi. I fear we're losing him in favour of Katsu."

"I know," Hovering at Yami Yugi's shoulder, Yugi took a deep breath and forced a grin. "Lets do this!"

Nodding, Yami Yugi dialled Honda's number.

Ten minutes later, they heard the rumble of Honda's motorcycle pulling up outside. Yugi put his shoes on, grabbed his jacket and ran downstairs and through the shop.

"Ah! Yugi! Will you be long? I was just going to ask you to help me with some boxes that need moving."

"Sorry Grandpa! Can't stop! In a rush. Honda's waiting for me." He tried not to look at his grandfather. If he did, Grandpa would look at him in a way that would make him feel guilty for not staying to help. His grandfather still retained his gamblers sixth sense, and would instantly guess he was up to something.

"Oh, okay! Not to worry. We will move the boxes when you get back. Tell Honda to drive safely."

Yugi paused at the open door and chewed in his bottom lip before glanced back over his shoulder, carefully trying to avoid any eye contact. "Sure Grandpa! Will do. Bye." He hurried out.

Knotting his brow suspiciously, Sugoroku rubbed his beard. His grandson was up to something, he could tell. Yugi and his friends had been acting strangely lately and from the whispered phone calls he had heard Yugi having with Anzu, it involved Jonouchi. Was he in trouble? The lad had not been around for the last couple of days, and he always popped round without fail on Sunday mornings, for a decent breakfast.

He hoped it wasn't another supernatural danger involving the Millennium Items.

After what had happened with Pegasus, he had started to regret ever stealing the Millennium Puzzle from the unknown Pharaohs' tomb. He should certainly have never allowed Yugi have it!

But he had been so compelled and drawn to that tomb that it had been impossible for him to resist! And young Yugi had been so awed by it on that fateful day, when he had climbed up onto the shelving to play hide and seek, and stumbled across it.

The way the little boy's eyes had lit up like gemstones when held the pieces of the Puzzle in his hands, had made Sugoroku's heart skip a beat. "Look Grandpa?! These two pieces fit together like this!" He had beamed, clicking two small pieces together.

At that very moment Sugoroku had been filled with fear, as he watched, waiting for Yugi to start screaming in pain when the Puzzle attacked his soul.

But instead, Yugi had just smiled even wider and asked if he could keep it to complete.

"You will never complete it Yugi! No one ever has," he had replied, nervously. If anything bad happened to his grandson, he would never have forgiven himself. But something told him that Yugi was meant to have it. Deep inside his heart, he already knew, that one day his grandson would complete the Puzzle and unleash upon the world, a dark and powerful force.

He had repeatedly asked himself, why had he not stopped it? But the answer was simple – he was not meant to.

::::::::::::

Honda looked deadly serious as he handed Yugi his spare crash helmet.

The last time they had played a Shadow Game with the Spirit of The Ring, they had all ended up trapped inside their game pieces. They had been forced to put their faith in the other Yugi to win the game. Yugi had demonstrated just how much faith he had in his other self when he willingly placed his own soul inside his game piece so that they could all work together to defeat the Game Master and his avatar, Zorc.

That time, they had narrowly avoided defeat – but only because their friend, Ryou had managed to rebel against the control the Ring had over him.

Honda had also witnessed for himself how dangerous the evil spirit that lurked inside the ring was, after he had killed the two goons in Pegasus' Castle without even physically touching them! He was so shocked that he had ripped the Ring from Bakura and thrown it into the forest to prevent him killing anyone else.

Afterwards, Ryou had appeared to be confused, and seemingly had no knowledge of what he had just done. But when Honda showed him the two corpses, Ryou had been more upset with Honda for disposing of the Ring, than he was over the dead security guards.

However, the Ring had somehow found its way back to him again. It was like the thing was sentient or something.

Honda suspected that Ryou was not as naïve and innocent as he pretended to be – it was like he was putting on an act to avoid responsibility for the Ring's actions.

He knew they were taking a risk by confronting him again. The other morning when they clashed, Yugi had backed down after Anzu had stepped up to pacify him. But he had a terrible feeling that this time, Yugi would be merciless and not as easy to mollify should he become embroiled in a Shadow Game.

All Honda could do, was observe and hope that Yugi knew what he was doing. If things got out of hand, he would have no choice but to intervene. "I want you to know Yugi, I've got your back, okay?"

Yami Yugi smiled with a forced confidence, as he pulled on the helmet and fastened the chin strap. "Thank you Honda. But let's hope it doesn't come to that." He was nervous, but would never admit to it. He climbed onto the pillion seat and griped the hand rail.

As Honda accelerated away, Yami Yugi's nerves increased. He was unsure if it was because he felt vulnerable riding on the back of this terrifying machine, or because of what he was about to face. But he was calmed a little by Yugi sending him support through their mind link.

They were a team and... what was it Shadi had said? 'Only when they united as one would they realise the full power of the Puzzle.' They had already tapped into that power against Pegasus and they would use it again against Bakura, if they had to!

On the motorcycle, it only took eight minutes to get through the traffic to Bakura's apartment block.

Honda parked the bike in a covered parking bay, that was specifically designed for bikes, and the pair made their way up the stairs to Bakura's apartment.

"Do you have a plan Yugi?" Honda asked nervously.

"Of course..." he began and then realised he was being arrogant. "No! I don't have a plan," he admitted. "I was going to demand that he reverses the spell and wait for his reaction. He was no match for me the other day, but I doubt he will back down as quickly this time."

"Why don't you let me deal with it Other Me?" Yugi pleaded. "If things get out of hand then you can take over."

"But Aibou! I cannot allow you to put yourself at risk. Bakura is dangerous."

"Ryou is not dangerous. He is our friend and I would rather we treat him gently to begin with. If he gets too upset, the Spirit will probably take over and then we will need to move to plan B."

Reluctantly, Yami Yugi allowed Yugi to regain control. "Very well Aibou. But I will be watching closely, and the moment I feel that we are in danger, I will not hesitate to respond accordingly."

"Oh! Yugi?" Honda was surprised that normal Yugi was back in control – was that wise? "I was just saying, that we should let Ryou think we are on a social visit. We don't want to upset him and risk immediate confrontation."

"Sorry Honda." Yugi scratched his head. "I was talking to the other me and didn't hear you. But I was thinking the same thing, which is why we swapped minds. If we take the friendly approach, things might not get ugly."

"Yeah, I agree." He held his hand up to the door. "Ready?"

"Yup!" Yugi nodded his head and Honda pressed the doorbell.

They waited with rather forced silly grins on their faces.

The door opened a crack and a very pale, tired pair of brown eyes peered at them over the security chain. "Yugi and... Honda." he muttered flatly, with so much disinterest that the two boys in question frowned at each other in concern. It sounded like all the life had been sucked out of their friend.

"Hey.. Bakura," Yugi blurted out, way too cheerfully.

"Yeah, man," Honda added. "You weren't at school. We've been worried about you."

"I.. I have been feeling bad. I didn't think you would want to see me after what happened to Jonouchi." He sounded almost tearful.

"We were angry angry to begin with. But we don't hold you responsible. Like Honda says; we're worried about you," said Yugi, kindly.

"Can we come in? It feels a bit weird talking to you through a crack in the door," said Honda.

"I.. I don't think... I'm scared of what He might do."

Yugi laughed stupidly. "We're not frightened of Him Bakura. We just wanted to make sure you were okay."

The comment that they were not frightened, immediately roused the Spirit of The Ring to surface slightly. He did not take over Ryou's body but Ryou could feel him pushing at the back of his mind.

"Let them in my host. I will not harm them. In fact, I will show them my hospitality," he said, sneeringly.

"No! Don't you..." Ryou began to shout at the spirit but realised he was being a little hysterical and stopped abruptly. "I mean, sorry guys. I meant to say, please come in." He flipped the chain and shuffled back towards his sitting room, allowing the front door to fall open on its own.

Giving Yugi a tentative look, Honda pushed the door all the way open and they went inside.

They both noticed how hunched their friend's posture was. He looked like he was carrying a huge burden. "Are you okay Bakura? You look... tired."

Ryou gave them a weak smile. "Yes, I'm okay. I just haven't been sleeping. Would you like a cup of tea?" Without waiting for the answer, he went into the kitchen. Yugi and Honda followed.

"Is there something troubling you Bakura?" Yugi asked, with concern.

"Yeah, we're your friends. You can talk to us buddy!" Honda offered.

"It's okay guys. I know why you're here. You don't have to pretend that you're here for me. If you want to know, I have been trying to find a spell that would help Jonouchi. That is why I haven't been coming to school." That was partly true. What he did not want to tell them was that he had tried to fight back against the control the Ring had over him. He had demanded that the Spirit give him the reversal spell.

He had even gone as far as threatening to place the ring in Sulphuric Acid if it did not help him reverse the spell. And in retaliation, the Ring had dug itself deep inside his chest so that he could not remove it, and then it had tortured him with horrible visions of people being hacked down by Egyptian soldiers. The dying and dismembered people – some just children – were then thrown into a cauldron, that simmered and bubbled with red hot blood, giving off a pungent smell of dark alchemy and burning flesh and screaming souls.

"Now you know how I have suffered. Watching people you love being burned can turn a person insane. You would not want to make yourself insane by doing that to me, would you?" The voice had sounded like a child pleading for something it was not allowed to have, while at the same time holding a snarling threat. Ryou had run to the bathroom and vomited.

"Did you have any luck finding a spell?" Honda asked, a little more forcefully than he had planned.

Ryou shook his head sadly. "I don't believe there is such a spell."

"Look at his expression? He's lying." The other Yugi hissed through their connection.

"I think so too. But I think he is hiding something else. He looks in pain. I hope the Spirit of the Ring isn't torturing him." Yugi decided to challenge him, politely.

"You would tell us if the Ring was making you withhold things from us, or threatening to hurt you, wouldn't you?"

"What makes you think that Yugi?!" Ryou was visibly shocked that Yugi had guessed.

"I hold a Millennium Item too, remember? My item doesn't hurt me because the other Me is good. But I also know that there is something else inside the items that can manipulate it's wearer for it's own gain." He refrained from telling Ryou that he believed that only those with strong souls appeared to be capable of resisting being manipulated by the evil.

Something about Bakura's whole demeanour suddenly changed. His appearance became mildly aggressive and his eyes flashed between lavender and dark brown, while his hair seemed courser. The smile he gave Yugi was none too kind either.

Honda tensed up and adopted his fighting stance. If he needed to subdue Bakura, he would have to move fast to avoid being attacked by the Ring.

Yugi stood his ground and resisted his other Self demanding to take over. "Would you like to tell us about the spell that was used?" He asked, gently. "If there is no way to reverse it, then it won't hurt to tell us how it works. It might even help us to understand what the spell has done to Jonouchi. His female body is not just an external illusion, he really is female." He could see that Ryou was still listening, because underneath the hostility, his facial muscles twitched with concern. His friend was trying to fight back against the Ring's control.

Suddenly, the Ring underneath his shirt started glowing. Ryou felt a crushing pain in his chest as it dug into his soul, forcing him into his soul room and locking him in. He screamed. He hammered on the door in an attempt to escape.

Since it was full of ghosts, it was always so cold inside his soul room. It was where he came when he was feeling miserable and wanted to talk to his family. But he hated being locked in.

Yugi felt his Millennium Puzzle heating up in response to the Ring's activation. Inside, his Other Self was raging and he was having trouble holding him back. But he did not want it to end in violence.

"Very good Little Yugi!" Yami Bakura snarled. "Why don't you let Him out? Or are you afraid of what He is capable of." He tipped his head back and laughed. "If you think that I am evil, just remember all of the people he has maimed and killed! Are you forgetting what he did to the Player Killer of Darkness? What about that boy from school who's soul you took, or the one that suffered third degree burns when you challenged him to a twisted game of Table Ice Hockey over a space in the school fair? Those are just a few of your victims," he snickered. "I won't even mention the criminal that burned to death."

"Shut up Bakura! You don't know what you're talking about. My other Self was only protecting me from danger. He would never hurt anyone deliberately."

"Believe what you like, Little Yugi. Just like my host you are merely a vessel to serve a purpose for a long dead spirit, that was placed inside a Millennium Item because he was evil." Around him, dark shadows began to swirl and the air became heavy. Honda could feel himself struggling to breathe.

Yugi could also feel the oppressive, cloying atmosphere, but since his experience at Duelist Kingdom, he had become stronger. The shadows no longer clawed their way into his lungs, asphyxiating him.

"Yugi! He lies. He is goading you. Let me take over?"

"It's okay Other Me. I know what he is trying to do. But I don't want you to hurt Bakura."

"I won't. His Shadow Magic is too strong for you on your own. Please let me help?"

Honda knew he had to stop Bakura from attacking Yugi. He could see the beads of sweat from the exertion starting to form on Yugi's face and was afraid that his friend was not strong enough to resist an attack on his own. He tried to move but found his body was paralysed; held in place by an invisible force. "Yugi! I think you should stop worrying about hurting good Bakura. Let the other Yugi stop the evil one!"

"What's the matter Yugi? You don't look too well." Bakura pushed his power towards Yugi. If hit by it, Yugi would be slammed into the wall and his bones would be crushed.

In the same moment, Yugi allowed the full power of the Puzzle to flood into him.

Yami Yugi did not have time to express his relief at being allowed to take control, but Yugi could sense his gratitude. When both of them worked harmoniously, the Puzzle was at its most powerful. But if one of them held back, they were vulnerable. And although not as powerful as the Puzzle, the Ring was still a force that could not be taken for granted.

With Yami Yugi in control of their body, the eye started to glow on his forehead. He looked wild and his body was surrounded by crackling Shadow Energy from his dark magic.

The burst stream of energy that Bakura had thrown at him seemed to surround his his entire being but was unable to penetrate the barrier that completely surrounded Yugi. Deep inside, his dark silhouette could be seen shimmering.

Bakura laughed maniacally. "Your little trinket is no match for Me... Pharaoh!" He had not meant to let that piece of knowledge slip.

If Yugi had noticed the slip of the tongue, he did not react. And Honda was unable to hear or see anything through the storm that was now raging inside the apartment.

There was a loud explosion and Bakura was thrown backwards. His body hit the wall so hard that the plaster cracked. All that Yami Bakura had time to do was yell a loud expletive as the air was knocked out of him and he became unconscious. His control over his host was severed and the Ring was ejected from Ryou's chest, landing with a clatter at Yugi's feet.

The storm abated but the Shadow Magic still swirled like a whirlwind around Yugi. Inside, Yami Yugi was raging. The power he possessed right now was intoxicating and exhilarating. The static crackled at his fingertips. He could not, would not, let this feeling go.

Honda was shouting at him in desperation, but Yami Yugi could not hear his friend pleading with him to send the energy back to wherever he had unleashed it from.

Luckily, the light in Yugi's own soul was able to balance the darkness on his soul. "Mou Hitori No Boku?" Yugi's firm but gentle, comforting voice seeped through and pushed aside some of the darkness, allowing him to become grounded once more.

"Aibou..." he muttered, slowly and shakily.

The Shadows vanished into a vortex and Yami Yugi was left standing there, fists clenched and face set into a stern scowl. He was trembling and on the verge of collapsing from the effort to control the darkness in his soul.

He was relieved when Yugi took over again, so that he could retreat inside his room to recover, and make sense of whatever it was that had almost completely consumed him.

Relieved that he could move once more, Honda gasped. "What the heck just happened? Are you okay man?"

Yugi's legs were filled with a tingling sensation, causing them to buckle. Honda had to grab hold of him to keep him from collapsing in a heap.

"Th... thanks. I will be okay in a minute." Yugi forced a weak smile. "That was... immense! The Other Me is fine. He's resting." His attention turned to Ryou slumped on the floor against the wall. Pieces of plaster were scattered over him. "Oh no! Bakura!" This was exactly the sort of outcome he had feared. Poor Ryou always seemed to end up being injured.

Lowering Yugi to the floor, Honda ran over to him and knelt down to check for injuries.

With normal feeling returning to his legs, Yugi retrieved the Ring. He needed to keep it away from Ryou so he placed it in his backpack. He then went over to where Honda was tending their friend.

"This is all my fault! I should never..." he started, but Honda interrupted him.

"It's not your fault Yugi!" He growled. "It's mine too. We were both so desperate to help Jonouchi that we were prepared to do anything we could to help him."

Yugi flinched slightly but did not say anything in return. Instead, he gently lifted Bakura's hand and felt for a pulse. He could not help but notice the ugly scar that still marred his friend's pale hand, from when the Evil Bakura had impaled it on the sharp point of the castle turret.

Relief flooded him when he felt a strong pulse. "At least he's alive."

"We shouldn't move him, just in case his neck is injured. He hit the wall pretty hard," Honda frowned as he noticed blood on the wall and on the floor, and a patch of sticky red, matted in the white/blonde hair on the back of Ryou's head.

"What shall we do?" Yugi suddenly regretted not paying attention during first aid lessons!

Honda looked around the ruined apartment. The furniture was upturned and thrown around the room. It looked like the place had been ransacked. Not to mention the damaged, scorched wall where the plaster had come off. "We should probably call an ambulance. But they might ask questions about the damage to his apartment."

"We could just say we came over and found him like this," Yugi flushed slightly at his suggestion of a blatant lie.

Just then, they heard a groan from Bakura. "Ow...! My head hurts... What happened?" Eyelids fluttered open as he tried to sit up. He was in a bad way but seemed more worried about the Ring. "Where is it?" He mumbled, touching his chest.

Both Yugi and Honda noticed how he winced when he touched his chest. He seemed to be in a great deal of pain.

"Safe!" Honda replied, sternly. "Where it can't do any more harm."

Ryou looked at him with big, sad doe eyes. "Please can I have it back?" He asked, pleadingly. Honda could not understand why he should feel so attached to something so evil.

However, because of his relationship with the Puzzle, Yugi could empathise. It seemed that whatever the spirits inside their items did, he and Ryou just accepted it because they were connected by their souls. "The Ring is safe. But it's probably better that we don't let you have it for now," said Yugi, calmly. "We should clean up the wound on your head."

"Yes, if you say so Yugi." Bakura nodded and winced at the soreness in his neck.

They helped him up and took him to the bathroom, where the first aid kit was kept.

Since Honda had been paying attention during first aid class, and had also learned first aid at Scout Camp, he tended to the cut. It was a nasty cut and had swollen up into quite a bump.

Bakura complained at his none too gentle touch and the sting of the antiseptic. "Ow! Please be careful Honda?"

"I think this will need stitches," Honda told him.

"I'm sorry Bakura," said Yugi. "The other Me didn't mean to hurt you. But the other You attacked us and we had to defend ourself. The Puzzle can get quite angry when we're attacked."

"It's okay Yugi. I know you didn't have a choice. He would have killed you and Honda if you had not retaliated. I will understand if you don't want to come with me to the hospital."

"You're our friend. We're not leaving you on your own," said Yugi, reassuringly.

Honda pulled out his phone and dialled for a taxi to take Ryou to the hospital. "You go with him Yugi. I will see you there. Can I take your backpack?" At first, Yugi did not get why he would want his backpack and opened his mouth to ask why? But then closed it again when he realised that he wanted to dispose of what was inside.

"Oh! Yeah, okay." He handed it to Honda.

"Why do you need Yugi's backpack Honda?" Ryou asked, inquisitively.

"It's got the keys to my motorcycle and also my gloves inside," Honda quickly replied.

"Oh... okay," said Ryou, tentatively. He was too polite to ask why his friends were lying to him. Maybe it had something to do with his Millennium Ring being inside. He kept quiet. It would find its way back to him – it always did!

The taxi turned up a few minutes later and Honda watched as it drove off before checking inside Yugi's backpack to ensure the Ring had not done another Houdini.

Satisfied that it was still there, looking harmless, he set off in the direction of his father's business. The only place he could think of that might be secure enough was the safe in his father's office. He was pretty sure that nothing could get through the concrete and steel lining.

:::::::::::::

The Spirit of the Ring was very tempted to lash out and hurt Honda. This was the second time this infuriating boy had tried to dispose of him. Transporting himself from the branches of a tree, back to his host, had taken a vast amount of energy. And if he wanted to return to his host quickly again this time, then he would need to recuperate from the fight they had just had. Yugi and the Pharaoh sure had thrown an awful lot of Shadow Magic at him, and he would have to be very careful when he faced him again next time.

But he was cunning and adaptable. Each time he fought a Shadow Battle, his KA was able to feed off the energy of his opponent. He could then use that energy for his Ka to grow and become stronger.

The stupid Pharaoh had no memories of the last time he faced Bakura's Diabound. And the Thief King was pretty sure that little Yugi and the Pharaoh would be unable to stop him when he finally gathered all of the Millennium Items and placed them in the stone slab to resurrect his master, Zorc.

The thrum of the motorcycle was strangely relaxing and the Ring stayed inside the backpack for most of the fifteen minute ride.

But, by the time Honda reached the factory and went to take the Ring out to place it inside the safe, it had vanished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed that little Shadow Game


	10. Unwelcome Returns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have a big confession to make. Somehow, I failed to post chapter 4. Awkward Moments. I somehow saved it without posting and have only just noticed. My humble apologies. Hopefully it's now fixed but if anyone spots anything out of order, please let me know so I can correct it.

Unwelcome Returns

Leaving Ryou to be tended by the doctor in the treatment cubicle, Yugi went to call Anzu with the news that things had not quite gone to plan.

Anzu was relieved when Yugi said he was okay, but grew concerned when she heard that they were in the hospital because Ryou had been hurt. "What happened exactly?"

When Yugi started to explain, Anzu put her phone on speaker so that Katsu could hear.

Katsu was furious with them. "Geez Yugi! I didn't ask the pair of you to go risking yourselves for me! What if one of you had been killed?!" When Yugi timidly apologised, she felt guilty for shouting at him. He and Honda were only trying to help. She sighed. "Where is the Ring now? You've got it, right Yuge?"

Yugi perked up a bit. At least the positive thing to come out of this, was that they had got the ring away from Bakura. "Honda has it. He's hiding it in his Dad's safe while we decide what to do next."

"I'll tell ya what to do next. Bring it here! I'm gonna pull it's fucking points off one by one until that evil bastard inside it reverses the spell."

"Katsu!" Anzu slapped her shoulder. "We don't know what that will do to Ryou. You know as well as I do that how deeply connected Yugi and Ryou are to their items."

"Yeah, well, Yugi's spirit is nice. I don't care what happens to Bakura's mean spirit. All he does is hurt Kura and anyone else who gets in the way," she grumbled, with a sulky pout.

Anzu sighed. "What about the other Yugi? Is he okay?"

Even though he knew they could not see him through the phone line, Yugi nodded. "Yeah, he's fine. But he used a lot of energy to defeat Bakura, so he's resting." He felt the spirit nudge him. "Oh! He says hi! And to tell Kastu he's sorry he failed to get Bakura to reverse the spell."

"Nah... That's okay Yugi. The pair of you did your best. Tell him thanks for trying. But next time he does something reckless, without asking me first, I will kick his ass!"

Yugi laughed. "Will do. We will see you after we've finished here. Bakura is just waiting for his head to be stitched. They X-rayed his ribs and elbow, but luckily nothing is broken, just bruised."

"Okay, well, see you soon Yugi." Anzu hung up, turned to Katsu and signed. "It's all my fault. I should never have asked Yugi to go and see Bakura. I put them all at risk, I'm so stupid."

"Hey! It's not your fault, if anything, it's mine for going all hormonal on you." Katsu put her arm around Anzu's shoulders. "You were just trying to help me and I'm grateful. I don't want any of you to take more risks to help me, is that clear?"

Anzu looked at her seriously. "You have at least another three weeks to go. Are you sure you can last that long?"

Katsu nodded. "I guess it's time for me to man up! Or rather, woman up and stop moaning and feeling sorry for myself. Deep inside, I'm still Jonouchi Katsuya! I can face anything they throw at me. And, ya know? Being a woman ain't all that bad. Not when I got the richest man in Domino wanting to date me," she winked.

Anzu was horrified. "You're incorrigible, you know that?"

::::::::::::

At first Ryou was reluctant to remove his shirt and started to make excuses that his scarring made him self conscious.

The doctor just smiled kindly. "I can assure you that I have seen some terrible injuries in my time working here, so please don't be nervous about me seeing them."

"Well, if you insist." He nervously pulled off his jumper to reveal the fresh holes over the top of the previous scars on his chest, where the points of the Ring had punctured him as a punishment for trying to take it off.

The doctor gasped at the Millennium Ring shaped crescents on his chest. Her immediate thought was that he might be a member of some sort of religious sect, or maybe a gang, and that he had been abused in some sort of ritual! Or maybe he was self harming.

She asked him, very gently, how he came to receive such wounds.

Not knowing what else to say, he told her that he had been in a car accident a few months ago and had sustained injuries to his chest.

She looked at him doubtfully and shrugged. "There is nothing in your medical records to say that you were admitted with chest injuries at any time! And some of these wounds look fresh."

Ryou shrugged. "Please don't worry about me. The accident happened while I was in Egypt, and I don't think they kept very good records in the hospital I was admitted to. I also opened the wounds back up when I blacked out and fell down the stairs."

"Have you had many of these black outs? Only, I see that you were admitted several months ago after falling from a chair, impaling your hand and injuring your eye!"

"Oh! No..." he laughed feebly, "That was because the stool I was sitting on had a faulty leg and it broke."

The doctor seemed to accept his explanations, even if she did not quite believe him. Unless he wanted to talk about who was harming him, there was not a lot she could do.

"This might sting a little," she told him. Bakura winced as she injected some local anaesthetic into the cut on the back of his head "It should just take a couple of minutes to take effect." She turned away to prepare the equipment for suturing the wound.

Ryou could suddenly feel a tingling sensation in his abdomen and chest. The familiar nausea as the Spirit from the Ring pushed at his soul made him shudder slightly. The Ring was returning to him. "If you have finished examining me, may I have my sweatshirt back please?"

"Yes, of course." She took his long sleeved under shirt and stripey tee-shirt from the chair, and handed it to him.

Thanking her, he pulled the under-shirt on first and then pulled his tee-shirt on over the top. The moment his skinny frame was covered, the Ring materialised underneath his clothing and settled warmly against his sternum.

He glanced up at the doctor, with a sinister little smirk. She was too stupid to even noticed the very subtle change in his demeanour. "Can you hurry up and stitch my head woman. I would like to go home."

She startled at the sudden harshness in his tone. "Oh! Has it gone numb already?"

"Yes," he lied.

Yugi re-entered the cubicle. The moment Bakura saw him, his features softened again allowing Ryou to regain full control. He did not need any more confrontations with that damned annoying Pharaoh, so there was no point in letting Yugi know he was back, just yet.

Ryou seemed a little confused for a moment, and flinched when he felt the sharp sting of the first stitch going in.

When the doctor asked him if he wanted her to stop, he told her finish what she was doing, he was fine.

The very subtle change in Bakura, might have escaped Yugi and the doctor, but Yami Yugi was watching him closely, and he could swear he caught a glimpse of a snarl on Bakura's usually soft, gentle features. "Did you see that Yugi?"

"See what?"

"I don't know. Maybe I am too suspicious. But I think the Ring may be back."

Yugi just managed to stop himself from making an audible gasp. "So soon! We should check with Honda."

Since he was in the hospital, he had put his phone on silent. And after finishing his call to Anzu, he had checked, but there had been no messages. When he pulled it out of his pocket, he saw that he had just received a rather worrying message from Honda. The Ring has vanished! Check to make sure it is not back with Bakura.

"Is something the matter Yugi?" Bakura felt a little offended by the accusing look that Yugi was giving him.

"It's nothing," said Yugi, forcing a smile. "I was just thinking, that must hurt?"

"I felt the first stitch a tiny bit. The worst part was the injection to numb it."

"There! All finished." The doctor dabbed the excess blood away from where she had placed four stitches in his head. "I would suggest you avoid washing your hair tonight."

"Thank you." Bakura gave her one of his sweetness and like, butter wouldn't melt smiles. "May I go home now?"

"I just need you to sign the insurance forms for your treatment, and then you may go."

Yugi waited impatiently, while Bakura did the paperwork. He was desperate to ask Bakura if the Ring was back.

As soon as they were outside, Yugi turned to Bakura. "You would tell me if the Ring returned, wouldn't you?"

The look Bakura gave him was one of hurt and sadness. "Please believe me when I say that he has no intention to get into any more fights with you and the Spirit from your Puzzle."

"So, it's back again." He was not really all that surprised. "When?"

Ryou hung his head in submission. "Since just before you came back into the room. No matter what I do, the Ring always finds me. It has cursed me since I was twelve years old. I denied it for a long time, but I believe it was even responsible for the car accident that killed my mother and sister."

Yugi was shocked. Bakura had never told any of them about his family. Just that he had been forced to move away from them. "I didn't know they were...! I'm sorry," he said, feeling genuinely sad for his friend. "I thought that you only got the Ring a few months before you came to Domino." Yugi had lowered his voice as they reached the bus stop so that the people waiting for the bus would not hear their conversation.

"It's okay Yugi, don't apologise. I sometimes wish that my father had never taken me to Egypt. But I have a feeling that the Ring would have found its way to me regardless. Just as the Puzzle had always been your destiny."

The bus arrived. They got on and took a seat at the back of the bus, where they were out of earshot from the other passengers sitting nearer the front. "Do you really believe that the items chose us?" Yugi kept his voice low.

"Do you?" Ryou asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yugi nodded. "Yes. I do. I don't understand how or why, and neither does the other Me. But I do have a feeling we will find out, eventually."

"I think my spirit did something terrible during his lifetime, which caused him to end up in here." Ryou touched his chest where the ring lay. "I don't know how your spirit ended up in the Puzzle, but I think He knows," he said, looking down at his hand laying over his chest. Yugi noticed it glow slightly underneath Ryou's clothing. "But he won't tell," Ryou continued, a sad and thoughtful look on his face. "In fact, I don't think he is permitted to tell."

Yugi was quite shocked at that. Since when did the Ring ever obey any rule? He cupped the Puzzle in his hands and felt a gentle warmth radiating through his palms. His other self was listening to every word they were saying, but was not about to try and throttle the truth from the Spirit of The Ring. But since the usually shy and guarded Ryou Bakura was willing to share some of his feelings with them, he did nudge Yugi to ask about the spell that had been cast on Jonouchi.

"About the spell? Can you tell me truthfully if it can be reversed? Or is he threatening you not to tell?"

Ryou gave him one of his all too innocent smiles, that implied to Yugi that his friend was about to lie because he was afraid to say anything that would lead to punishment. "I honestly don't think he knows how to reverse the spell, and if he did, he would not tell me how to do it. From the feelings I get from him, there is no spell that will reverse it as it is one of those temporary ones, that don't usually need reversing because they eventually wear off."

"I was worried you might say that." I guess I should go and break the news to Katsu, gently."

"May I come with you?" Ryou asked, sheepishly. "Thanks to my guilty feelings, I have lacked the courage to face Jonouchi, or rather, Katsu. I want to apologise in person."

"Yeah, sure Bakura." The bus they were travelling on stopped fairly close to Bakura's apartment block, but then went in the wrong direction to take them anywhere near Anzu's house. So, they got off the bus, and took another bus that would take them in the right direction.

In the recesses of his mind, Ryou could feel the Spirit of The Ring lurking. He was very much aware of their conversation and where they were going. But Ryou did not feel any malice or threat. The spirit was being quiet and purposely staying well out of the way, for now.

::::::::::::

Since losing to Jonouchi and then to Yugi at Duelist Kingdom, Mai had been on holiday in Naples. It had been nice to get away from Duel Monsters, and recover from the humbling experience of losing to those two boys.

As much as she hated to admit it, they had made her think quite a lot about herself, her future and her whole attitude towards life in general.

She had always chosen to go it alone and do things her way. And, why not? Her wealthy father had always let her down and her mother was such a poor role model; basically abandoning her infant daughter into the care of the nanny, and then sending her off to boarding school as soon as she was old enough.

Meeting Yugi, Jonouchi, Anzu and Honda, with all their teenage optimism and enduring friendships, had made her realise just how miserable and lonely she really was.

Jonouchi had the hots for her, she was certain – after all, most men fancied her, didn't they?

The fun part was always letting them think they were in with a chance and then sticking her nose in the air and telling them to get lost.

The way all three boys had all blushed and swooned when they saw her for the first time as she swept past them to get on the boat to Duelist Kingdom, had not escaped her notice. The way it had made Anzu almost erupt with jealousy, had swelled her pride.

But teasing guys and making their girlfriends jealous no longer made her feel superior. If anything, it was arrogant and made her feel mean and a bit cheap.

The plane touched down on the runway of Tokyo Airport and Mai smiled to herself. The thought of seeing the gang again, almost made her feel happy.

But seeing them would have to wait. First she would head home to her small apartment to shower and sleep off the jet lag after her fifteen hour journey.

::::::::::::

Yugi was upstairs in the kitchen, doing his homework, when Mai walked into the shop.

She had spent most of the afternoon sleeping, and was now that the evening was here she was suddenly wide awake, thanks to her body clock being out of synch.

She did not have any phone numbers or addresses for any of them. The only thing she knew was that Yugi's family owned Kame Game.

So, here she was, walking into a small shop, feeling anxious, in the hope that they might all be there, waiting for her with smiling happy faces. How stupid was she?

Feeling uncomfortable with the idea, she paused in front of the door and was about to turn around and leave, when the voice of an elderly gentleman called out from behind her.

"Good evening young lady! May I help you?"

She hesitated and then turned around to see Sugoroku Mutou leering at her, broom in hand. Why had she not spotted him lurking in the half light, sweeping the paved area in front of the shop?

It suddenly occurred to her that he probably had no idea who she was because his soul had been held captive by Pegasus at the time.

"Oh! Hello! You must be Yugi's grandfather? I was wondering if Yugi was here?"

Sugoroku chuckled, proud that his grandson was attracting such lovely, big bosomed ladies. "Are you a fan of my grandson?" He stepped forward and she quickly moved aside to avoid letting him get too close. It had not escaped her that he was looking at her chest rather than at her face. There was also a naughty twinkle in his eyes.

She seldom felt self conscious, but she was sure he was admiring her breasts a little too avidly.

"I'm a friend of Yugi. We met at Duelist Kingdom. My name is Mai Kujaku," she said, with more than a hint of irritation.

His eyes snapped up to her face but he did not appear embarrassed. If anything, he looked amused. "Yes, I do vaguely remember Yugi and his friends mention you. If I recall correctly, they said you used aromatherapy to win duels." He pushed the door open and gestured for her to enter.

Mai was a little offended that he would bring that up. "Did Yugi also tell you that I nearly beat him? Without using aromatherapy."

Sugoroku laughed. "I like a woman with fighting spirit! I can see that you have the heart of a duelist." He was glancing at her chest again.

"Yeah, whatever." She folded her arms and pulled her denim jacket closed in an attempt to cover up. "Is Yugi in?"

"Wait here, I will get him for you." He went upstairs to find Yugi, who was still sitting in the kitchen with his homework books spread over the table and headphones on, listening to music on his I-pod.

"WHAT?" Yugi shouted too loudly, when Sugoroku tapped him on the shoulder. He pulled off his headphones. "Sorry Grandpa!"

"That's okay Yugi. But I'm not that hard of hearing. However, you will be if you keep blasting your eardrums through those things."

Yugi shrugged. "It's not that loud. Some kids have theirs way louder."

"Yes, well, whatever. Anyway, there's a young woman downstairs, with very attractive assets. She is asking for you. Her name is Mai Kujaku."

Yugi resisted rolling his eyes at his grandfather's comments. He was well used to Grandpa's breast fetish. "Mai?! What's she doing here?" He quickly turned off his I-pod and ran downstairs to see her.

"Hey! Mai!" He called out, as he reached the bottom of the stairs. "I thought you had gone travelling around Europe?"

"Hey, Yugi! I got bored so I thought I would head back to Domino for a while. I remembered that your family owned this store so I decided to come and catch up with you guys. How is Jonouchi doing?"

Yugi cringed slightly and his demeanour seemed to changed slightly. He grimaced. "Erm... He's okay, sort of." He did not really know what to tell her.

Mai looked worried. "What do you mean? He's not in trouble is he?"

"No! Well, not like you might think."

"Yugi! What are you saying? Is he sick? Injured?"

"No, he's kind of busy. I can tell him you want to see him if you like?"

"Duh!" Mai rolled her eyes. "Of course I want to see him! Or is there a problem with that?"

"Not exactly." Yugi glanced at his watch. It was six fifty. He was supposed to be meeting his friends at the arcade at seven thirty. His homework was taking longer than he had hoped, and he needed to get it done before he could go. He did not want to let his friends down. It would be the first time that Katsu had ventured out to the arcade since before the spell had been placed, and it was a big deal for her because it was where they often spent a lot of their time hanging out together.

Many of the staff and regulars at the arcade knew Jonouchi very well. He had a reputation as a tough guy. Katsu was nervous that they might become suspicions and start asking questions.

Yugi did not know what he should do. Should he invite Mai? Or tell her he was busy doing his homework and ask her to come back tomorrow? It would at least give him time to warn Katsu.

The decision was taken out of his hands when the bell on the shop door dinged and Anzu walked in, closely followed by Katsu, Ryou and Honda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of a cliff-hanger! If you're wondering how Mai and Katsu will react to one another, it will e revealed next chapter.


	11. Meeting Mai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katsu meets Mai for the first time since she replaced Jonouchi. And the gang go for an evening out at the arcade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild cursing and some lewd comments and behaviour.

When Katsu clamped eyes on Mai, she froze like a rabbit in headlights.

"Mai! What da hell are you doing here?!" She blurted, without thinking.

Mai scrutinised her suspiciously. "How do you know my name? Who are you?"

Yugi stood behind Mai, squirming at what might be unfolding in front of him, while the rest of his friends paled and cringed internally, trying to not let their horror at Katsu's lack of decorum show in front of Mai.

Katsu meanwhile, realising that she may have just dropped a massive clanger, blushed and cringed. Unsure what to say, her mouth started flapping like a goldfish dropped onto a tiled floor.

Clearing her throat, Anzu was the first to recover some composure. "This is Jonouchi's cousin, Katsu. Unfortunately, she is just as tactless as him – it's a family trait."

"Hey!" Kastu, started to complain, but decided against it when Honda nudged her to shut her up.

"That still doesn't explain why you-" Mai pointed at her accusingly "–would react so negatively to me being here."

Katsu finally found her tongue. "My cousin has told me about you. He said you had a big fat attitude problem!" She had not meant to say something that nasty and immediately felt bad. But right now she felt threatened, and the best way to deal with a threat was to be threatening in your response and hope the threat decides to leave.

Mai was shocked and offended by the verbal abuse she was getting from this... stranger. Jonouchi must have said some pretty horrible things for this obnoxious girl to have greeted her with such aggression. "I wasn't aware he hated me so much," she snarled, maintaining her composure, so as not to reveal that her feelings had been hurt. "Where is that loser, anyway? I plan to go and give him a piece of my mind."

Honda could sense that Katsu was bristling like a dog, ready to savage it's toy rabbit to death, so he quickly intervened. "Unfortunately, that loser is out of town. He is visiting his mum and sister. He wanted to give them the good news that he has the money to pay for his sisters operation, and to patch things up with his mum. Katsu is staying at Anzu's while he is gone." He hoped that sounded reasonably convincing.

"Oh! His sister. Yes, I remember now. He said he wanted to help her." At the thought of his kindness towards his kid sister, Mai softened slightly. "When will he be back? I'm not going away again for a while. So I was hoping we might catch up."

"We're not sure," Yugi explained. "It could be a month."

"Okay... Well! I can stick around for as long as it takes. Do you know when his sister's operation will be?"

"Not for a couple of months," Katsu quickly replied. "They don't want to operate while she still has at least some vision. The operation is risky! If they do it sooner and it goes wrong, she could be left completely blind. If they wait until her sight is so bad that she can't see anyway, then the benefit outweighs the risk – if ya see what I mean?"

Mai knotted her eyebrows. The way this girl looked when she spoke about Jonouchi's sister, made her seem so much like Jonouchi. But they were related so she dismissed it. "Yes," she replied, "I do understand their reasoning."

After a moment of thought, she came up with an idea. "Maybe I could drive over and pay a surprise visit? It would be nice to meet his kid sister and give her some support."

Everyone suddenly looked very worried, making Mai feel confused and rejected. Had she read her interactions with them at Duelist Kingdom wrong? Did Jonouchi dislike her that much that she would not be made welcome? "Look! If you lot don't want me in your clicky little circle, just say so, okay? Because all these weird looks you're giving are making me feel like I'm not welcome."

"No! It's not that!" Yugi blurted.

"Of course you're welcome Mai!" Anzu added. "It's just that... I'm not sure it's worth the journey. Jonouchi's mother and sister live miles away!" Mai looked ready to argue with her that distance wasn't the issue. Car or motorbike – she loved driving through the Japanese mountains.

"It's okay you guys..." Katsu let out a long sigh of resignation. "You don't have to keep pretending any longer. Mai's gonna find out sooner or later, so we might as well tell her the truth about what happened to me."

"Tell me what?!" Mai gasped. "Has something happened to Jonouchi? He is okay, isn't he? Yugi?"

She fixed him with a searching look. He had not reacted to her being here in the friendly manner she had expected him to. It had almost seemed like he wanted to get rid of her.

There was also something odd about Katsu. In fact, they were all behaving a bit oddly.

Yugi fidgeted on the spot and looked first at Katsu and then at Mai. "Jonouchi is okay..." he began hesitantly, "-but he is going through some... stuff at the moment." His eyes drifted back to Katsu, pleading for her to speak up.

Katsu steeled herself. "I'm fine Mai."

With a gasp, Mai to spin round to stare at her. The penny dropped. "Oh My God! You're... you're... Jonouchi?!"

"Yup! And before you say anything. I'm not one of them transvestites and I haven't had the operation either. It was caused by Shadow Magic."

"Shadow Magic?!" She had seen Yugi do some weird voodoo shit on that player killer, Panic. Was it something to do with that great big hunk of bling he wore round his neck?

Spotting her glaring at the Millennium Puzzle, Ryou realised that she thought Yugi was to blame and decided that it was his cue to explain what had happened. "It's not Yugi's fault, it is mine! The evil spirit that lives inside my Millennium Ring, placed a spell on Jonouchi and turned him into a woman."

Mai had her hands over her mouth now, and was utterly speechless. She could not comprehend real magic. She had learned a few magic tricks from the illusionist that she had met working on the cruise ship. It had to be a trick. Or at the very least a sick joke.

"Say something... Mai? Anything?" Katsu pleaded.

"Is... Is it permanent?" She managed to say.

"No, it is not permanent," Ryou added. "I'm afraid there is no spell to reverse it, that I know of. But it will wear off in about a month."

Reality was sinking in for Mai now and her shock quickly turned to amusement. She started snickering. "Oh! This is... hilarious.." She could no longer speak, she was laughing that much.

"It's not funny!" Katsu snapped, indignantly.

"If you really were a friend Mai, you would be sympathetic," Anzu chipped in.

"Yeah, Mai! It's not that funny," said Honda, feeling rather protective of his friend.

Gathering herself, Mai took a couple of deep breaths to get her breath back. "Oh! But it is," she snickered. "It is absolutely hilarious. The sight of the macho guy who always acts so tough, in a dress, is... I should take a photo!"

"Don't you dare," hissed Katsu.

Yugi stepped in the way. "Please Mai? Don't! It's not fair to pick on Jo... Katsu like this." He looked deadly serious and Mai suddenly felt bad for teasing them.

"Yes, you're right Yugi. But it's such a huge shock that I didn't know how else to react. I'm sorry. I know you lot get yourselves into some weird situations, but this is just priceless! Why did you do it Bakura?"

"What?!" Ryou was bright red in the face. "I didn't willingly do it! The Ring takes over and I don't have any choice! I seldom remember anything he makes me do. I have been trying to find a cure, but so far, I have been unable to find any way of reversing it."

"Right! So you're stuck like this for... what? Four weeks?!"

Katsu hung her head and slumped in defeat. "Yeah, about that. It's already been six days, so hopefully just over three. So, go on! Take the piss as much as you like. I really don't give a shit what you think!"

The dejection in Katsu's voice, felt like a dagger to the heart, and Mai suddenly started feeling a bit shaken and upset. Her mirth turned to sympathy. "Hey! I'm not going to make fun of you. I know I laughed, but it was more out of surprise than malice. I won't judge. But I must say, having to experience life as a woman should be compulsory for all men! Maybe they would stop treating women as sex objects and start showing us the respect we deserve."

"That's not fair!" Honda protested. "None of us think of you as a sex object. Do we guys?"

Blushing profusely, Yugi and Ryou shook their heads. "N.. no! We would never treat a woman like that!" Yugi defended.

"Yeah, well, say whatever you like. You are still guys," Mai snorted.

Anzu meanwhile, was trying to hide her smile. Mai actually had quite a good point.

Grandpa Mutou reappeared, holding a mug of tea. "Ah! If I knew you were all still here, I would have made a whole pot full of tea." His eyes set on Katsu and a naughty grin appeared on his face.

Noticing him leering at Katsu, Yugi quickly replied. "It's okay Grandpa, we were just going." He started to usher his friends towards the door.

"Just a minute Yugi! Aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend? I don't think I have met this lovely young lady before."

Yugi squirmed. "Oh! Yeah... Grandpa, this is Katsu. She's staying with Anzu."

"Very pleased to meet you Katsu." Sugoroku bowed. "With all these lovely young women around, I'm going to need a new pace maker," he joked, earning grimaces from Anzu and Mai. Even Katsu had to grimace. She knew that Jonouchi would have found Grandpa Mutou's remark amusing.

Sensing his female friends were feeling uncomfortable, Yugi groaned. "Grandpa!" Just as Mai hissed –

"My point is proved."

If Sugoroku had any inclination that he had said anything inappropriate to the girls, he did not show it. "Have a good evening everyone!" He waved to them as they left the shop. "Don't be home any later than ten Yugi, You have to get up at six thirty tomorrow morning, to help me with a delivery I'm expecting, before school."

"Don't worry Grandpa, I won't be late."

Once outside, Mai turned to Yugi. "Your grandfather is a pervert Yugi. I'm surprised that you are not one too!"

Yugi laughed, but looked embarrassed. "Grandpa is not like that! He's just a bit old fashioned. He looked after Grandma when she was sick. He gives up his seat on the bus for women, even though he needs it more than they do, and opens doors for them. He just doesn't always think before he says things. He probably thought it was a compliment or something."

Anzu backed Yugi up by defending his grandfather. "Yes Mai, once you get to know Grandpa Mutou, he's really nice. It's just that he comes from a different era, one when men treated women differently."

"Yeah, he's a dinosaur," Katsu chuckled.

"It's still inexcusable to leer though. And don't think I haven't caught you guys doing it!" Mai fixed Yugi and Honda with a stern look. Behind her, Katsu snickered. She turned on Katsu. "Wipe that smirk off your face, Miss Innocent! I hope your experience of being a woman teaches you a lesson, Jonouchi!" Mai's vocal chords were far too loud for Katsu's liking.

"Shut up calling me that! No one must know, okay? I'm Katsu. If anyone at the arcade finds out who I really am, I'm as good as dead."

As they walked, Mai could not help notice how genuinely feminine Katsu really was. She remembered with fondness, the confident, masculine way Jonouchi strode out when he walked; smug and almost carefree, despite the weight of responsibility he carried on his young shoulders.

But the gentle swing of Katsu's hips as she walked, side by side with Anzu, and the way her clothes hung from her lean but curved figure, was elegant enough that she could almost make it as a catwalk model. Mai did not know whether to be in awe or jealous.

Swallowing down the knot in her throat, she pushed her way in between Anzu and Katsu and linked arms with the two girls.

In-front of them, Yugi, Honda and Bakura strolled along, chatting. Yugi was actively bragging about how he was going to smash his own high scores, which made her smile; she would never have put Yugi down as being the sort of guy to be big headed.

Slightly surprised that Mai had linked arms with them, Anzu laughed. "Are you okay Mai?"

"Yes! I have been thinking; the next few weeks are going to be fun! How about I stick around and help you look after Katsu?"

"Aw... I dunno Mai," Katsu groaned. "I don't think I need much help, and Anzu is taking good care of me already."

Mai was a little hurt by the rejection and Katsu felt her sag slightly.

"It's not that I don't want you around." Katsu tried her best to explain her complicated feelings. "It's just... despite the nasty things you and he say to each other, Jonouchi thinks a lot of you. I don't think he can stand the humiliation of you knowing he's man bits are now female bits."

"Look, I know I laughed earlier, but I'm not judging. Just as I don't judge Yugi every time he becomes a different person when he duels. Or Bakura, when he changes from a sweet, soft little thing into a vicious psychopath. I know It's a shame that Jonouchi isn't here as his usual self, but I would like to stick around and get to know him as Katsu."

Katsu took a deep breath in through her nose and let it back out in a big sigh. "Yeah, I guess you can stick around," she conceded. "No disrespect Anzu, because I know you try your best. But your attempts at doing make-up are nowhere near as good as Mai's, and I could use some tips."

Mai grinned. "I trained as a beautician before I went to work on the cruise ship. I would be happy to give you a makeover. I will give you one too Anzu, if you like? Yugi will find to impossible to keep his hands off you when he sees how beautiful you are."

"Mai! I keep telling everyone; Yugi and I are just friends!"

"Yeah, right! Keep kidding yourself. I have seen the way he looks at you."

Katsu chuckled. "She's right. If another guy shows any interest in you, he gets real protective, and he told me he liked how you looked in that Burger World uniform."

"What?! But it's horrible! The top is too revealing and the skirt is so short, that every time I bend down, my knickers show... Oh!" She stopped walking, bringing the other two girls to a halt with her and pouted; the reason why he liked her in the uniform had just dawned on her. "Honestly! Men..!" She sighed with disappointment and gazed at the small teenager, walking a few yards ahead of her. "I thought Yugi was not like that!"

"He's a guy Hon! I hate to keep repeating myself. But like I said earlier; all men are perverts."

"That's just mean Mai," Katsu muttered. "But sadly, you're right."

"So, what do we do about it? Since you have been on both teams, do you have any suggestions Katsu?" Anzu asked.

Beyond punching someone for being lecherous, Katsu was not sure if she did have any answers and just shrugged. "Guess it's just the good old 'battle of the sexes'." She concluded.

The boys in front slowed to a stop and turned round. "Hey! Quit yapping about girl stuff you three, and hurry up!" Honda chided.

"Shut ya face!" Katsu bellowed, in a rather unladylike voice.

Mai rolled her eyes. Yup! Jonouchi was still in there, somewhere.

::::::::::::

The arcade was always busy at this time of the evening. As they entered the dimly lit arcade, the noise hit them. Lights flashed brightly on the many different machines, as they hummed, whirred, dinged and buzzed.

The atmosphere was charged with energy, making Yugi tingle with anticipation. He could not wait to get stuck in. And because he was such an expert gamer, he rarely came away out of pocket.

As they walked further into the arcade, they passed a row of people eagerly feeding their money into Pachinko machines, Katsu shuddered when some of the men stopped playing, to look at them as they walked by.

Jonouchi always made a point to be on the lookout for guys who might want to pick a fight with him, and it was difficult for Katsu to not adopt the same readiness for trouble, that always ensured that he would not get jumped or taken by surprise.

But this time, there were no former gang members out for revenge, or wannabes looking to make a name for themselves by throwing the punch that might take down a feared street fighter like Jonouchi. Instead, Katsu quickly realised that they were eyeing her up because she was a chick!

It made her feel extremely self conscious and slightly nervous. Did Anzu and Mai also feel intimidated by horny dudes perving on them?

She glanced at her two female friends and they seemed to be ignoring it. Maybe they were so used to it that they were impervious to leering creeps.

It made her skin crawl, because having been a guy, Katsu knew which parts of her body they were ogling and fantasising about. It made her physically shudder.

She stopped in her tracks and turned to glare right at the culprits. One or two looked ashamed and quickly turned back to their gaming, but two gave her cheeky, flirtatious winks. "Frigging perverts," she snarled at them. The two men just grinned even wider.

Mai grabbed her arm and dragged her along. "Don't acknowledge them! If you react to them, it only makes them worse."

Anzu took hold of Katsu's other arm "Don't give them the pleasure of seeing you flustered. Ignore them!"

"How do you even put up with it?" She hissed. "Those guys are perverts! I know exactly what is going through their scabby little minds!"

"I think we have a pretty good idea too," Anzu groaned. "But like I told you last time; there's nothing you can do about it."

Katsu huffed. "I don't think I can tolerate it. It's horrible."

Mai winked at her knowingly. "For obvious reasons, I know it's not easy for you to grasp this, but us women can actually use it to our advantage."

Intrigued as to what the girls where huddled together and whispering about, the three boys came over to find out.

"Hey! What are you three planning?" Honda interrupted.

"Nothing! Just girls talk." Mai gave him a smirk and tapped her nose.

Katsu shrugged past Honda. "Just a bunch of dudes pushing their luck," she hissed at him, with a wink. "C'mon everyone? We're wasting valuable gaming time."

Honda shook his head in bemusement.

"What shall we play first?" Yugi grinned, flexing his fingers, itching to rip into the high scores.

"How about we let Honda choose the first game?" Anzu suggested, knowing that many of the games Yugi liked were not his thing – or hers come to that; because once Yugi got into a game, he was generally nose to the screen for the rest of the evening and she would not get to spend any time with him.

"If that's okay with everyone?" He looked around and spotted something he might enjoy. He marched over to a platform, where two very realistic looking motorcycles were set up, facing a screen. "How about this? Anyone fancy racing against me?"

"Yeah! I do!" Mai smirked, climbing onto the platform and swinging a leg over one of the motorcycles.

They all glanced between each other with amusement. Honda shrugged in response and stepped onto the platform with a smirk. "You think you're up to this Mai?" He swung his leg over the other bike. "Only, I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to riding a bike. I was racing dirt bikes at eight!"

Mai huffed. "You think I'm no match for you huh?! Well, just you watch!"

"This I gotta see," Katsu chuckled. Honda was crap at most games, but this one was his forte.

Yugi laughed. "I don't think I have seen anyone beat Honda. But I think this battle is gonna be awesome." He was pretty sure Mai would not have challenged Honda if she did not think she would win.

The game started and the motorcycles roared into life. The engines revved, making them sound very real, and the bikes tilted on their stands, as images appeared, of them racing around the fast moving circuit on the screen in front of them.

"Wow! Mai's doing really well!" Anzu was quite surprised to see her keeping up with Honda.

The first game ended when Mai and Honda clipped each other on a tight bend and both of them ended up on the gravel.

"I would say that's a draw!" Said Mai.

"Hell No! I was in front going into the bend!" Honda complained. "You took me out with a dangerous move! You tried to undertake me on the bend!"

Mai was quick to point out that he had been gong too slowly and had braked suddenly. Honda knew she was right and scowled.

"Okay, draw it is then. How about another game?"

"You bet! But let's up the level and do the Isle of Man TT course."

"My favourite course!" Honda stated smugly. He had this one in the bag. "Fastest lap wins."

When Mai recorded the winning lap, by a margin of zero point five of a second, Honda snorted. "That bike is always a bit faster."

"Sore loser." Mai smirked, climbing off her bike. "Would you like to swap over?"

"Nah! It's okay Mai. I'm not as competitive as you duelists." He offered her a handshake. "You're pretty awesome. Where did you learn to ride like that?"

"I have an Kawasaki Ninja 650R in my garage. I love getting out on the open roads whenever I can."

Honda was envious. Even though he could handle a larger bike, he was not yet old enough to ride anything over 50cc on the roads. "Nice! Sure beats my 50cc Honda," he winked. "But as soon as I turn eighteen, I'm gonna go for the Suzuki GSXR 750."

Chatting happily, the group went to play some other games. Katsu challenged Yugi to a fighting game, at which, Yugi reigned supreme. Any hope that Katsu had of winning was quickly extinguished. Either Yugi was even better at this game than last time they played, or Katsu was even worse at it than Jonouchi!

Seeing that she was getting very frustrated, Mai suggested that they go and get some refreshments – her treat.

They found a table and sat down on the plastic bench seats with their drinks. Katsu was still complaining about losing five games in a row. Her reflexes were terrible and her hand eye coordination was non-existent.

"You never had any coordination anyway!" Honda teased, earning a disgruntled slap from Katsu.

Anzu was a little more sympathetic."Maybe it's because you don't have enough testosterone to play fighting games at the moment," she suggested, in an effort to help explain why Katsu was even worse at winning than Jonouchi was.

"Yugi's not naturally aggressive!" Katsu whined. "But he always wins."

"I'm not so sure it's about aggression," Ryou tried to explain. "I have noticed that when Yugi plays, he becomes very competitive and focussed. He is not easily distracted. You on the other hand, find it difficult to concentrate and are constantly looking at what is going on around you."

"Yes, that's true," said Yugi. "I have often noticed that Jonouchi finds it hard to concentrate for long. You seem about the same. I don't think you are any worse. If you remember, last time I beat you five nil as well."

Katsu sighed. "Meh... don't rub it in Yuge. I'm worse, okay?"

"Yeah, if you say so," Mai teased.

"It doesn't matter if you are worse than Jonouchi or not. The fact is, Yugi is just too good for any of us to beat," Anzu stated, proudly.

Katsu drained her milk shake and realised her bladder was full – damn this small bladder. "I need a leak," she announced, earning stares for her unladylike announcement.

Anzu rolled her eyes. "How many times to I keep having to tell you? Girls don't need a leak."

"Well, I will leak if I don't go," Katsu pouted. "And what else am I supposed to call it?"

"Just say, you need the bathroom," Mai suggested. "Do you want us to come with you?"

Katsu grinned at her. "All girls together!" She cooed, sarcastically.

Mai shook her head in dismay.

The three girls got up and headed towards the ladies toilets, while the three boys went to the gents on the opposite side of the hallway.

They did not see the group of boys from senior year, sitting in the far corner, watching them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Mai, she's awesome to write. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it.


	12. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang go to the amusement arcade, where they run into some seniors from their school.

It still felt weird going into a cubicle, pulling her panties down and then sitting on the loo to tinkle.

But at least the ladies lavatories smelled whole lot better than the gents urinals did!

Katsu dabbed herself dry, just as she had been instructed to do by Anzu, and pulled up her panties and curve hugging leggings, that were styled to look like jeans. What was it Anzu had called them? Jeggings, that was it.

Smoothing over her bottom and thighs, she sighed. It seemed strange that her female anatomy no longer felt alien.

She washed her hands and met Anzu and Mai back at the vanity mirrors, where several girls were helping each other to touch up their make-up and hair, while giggling and chatting about boys, fashion and pop music.

It was so different to the gents, where guys barely looked at one another as they stood and aimed their streams of piss in the general direction of the urinals. To look at another guy urinating sent out the wrong message and was definitely asking for trouble. A man might give himself a quick once-over in the mirror, while washing his hands. And friends might exchange a few words about work or sport, but that was about it. You certainly did not linger. No wonder girls always took ages in the bathroom!

When Katsu tried to make a quick escape, Mai caught her arm and hauled her into the throng of giggling girls. "You can't go back out there looking like that! Your hair is a mess and your make-up is smudged. I will sort it for you."

"I can't help my hair!" Katsu complained. "And I don't like wearing make up. I prefer the natural look." Truth was, wearing make-up was still unfamiliar. She tended to forget she was wearing it and then go and rub her hand across her face because the eye make up made her itch.

"Stop making excuses," Anzu giggled, "and let Mai sort you out. You do look a bit smudged."

"I don't look smudged!" Katsu pouted indignantly.

"You have got an amazing figure, yet your face is a mess! Now, SIT!" Mai pushed her down onto a stool. Unable to argue further, Katsu groaned and perched her bottom on the stupid little pink stool, while Mai dabbed at her smudged mascara and tidied her up. The giggling girls around her were deafening.

When they emerged, the boys were faithfully waiting for them. Katsu found their body language amusing. They looked so bored, standing there, with their hands in their pockets and slumped posture.

But, the moment they spotted her and her two companions, they straightened up. The look of relief on their faces was hilarious. She knew exactly what was going through their minds: They were wondering what exactly it was that the girls could be doing in there that would take so long.

Well, Katsu now had some very valuable insider information. They were bound to ask her, in the hope that she might tell. But girls stuck together, right? So they could keep on guessing.

Shit! Was she thinking more like a girl?

"Hey! Katsu!" Honda snapped his fingers in front of her face, startling her out of her daze. "What's up? You look like you spotted a ghost!"

"Huh! What? No... I..." She suddenly spotted Goro Inogashira, with two of his cronies, sitting by the window on the far side of the cafe watching them. She quickly looked away again to avoid letting them know she had recognised them in case it made them suspicious. "Actually, yeah..." her eyebrows knotted together in concern. "And it ain't good. Don't look, but Goro and his gang are over by the window."

Of course, everyone immediately looked, making Katsu squirm. "I said don't look!" She hissed.

"Yeah, well, at least they appear to be minding their own business, so lets just ignore them and go and play some more games," Honda suggested.

Mai was baffled and had no idea who they were so nervous about. "Who's Goro?"

Anzu linked her arm through Mai's. "The three guys by the window. The big one with the gauze covering his face is Goro. He kind of had an accident with the okonomiyaki grill at school. No one really knows what happened and he claims to have no memory of it. But his friends accused Yugi, which is unfair, since they hit Yugi really hard with the heavy grill and gave him concussion. There's no way he could have had anything to do with it." Deep down, she suspected the other Yugi might have challenged Goro, but she was loyal to her friend and would never let on.

Mai did not have a clue what Anzu was talking about and just shrugged.

Behind her, Yugi shifted his feet nervously. Even if Anzu knew the truth, he was convinced she would never want to believe what he was capable of – what the other Him was capable of. "Come on everyone! Let's play some more games!" He quickly cut in, before Mai could ask any more questions.

"Yes!" Bakura beamed brightly. "What shall we play next?"

"How about DDR?" Anzu suggested. "I challenge you Mai!"

"Me?! How about... NO!" Mai had no intention of dancing.

"Aww.. come on Mai! You told me you used to dance. You said your mother wanted you to be a ballerina, which was why she gave you your name," Anzu argued.

"Yeah, go on Mai! Don't be such a spoilsport!" Katsu goaded.

"I haven't danced in years!" Probably not since she was fourteen!

"Please, Mai?" Anzu pleaded. "It will be fun!" She was already stepping up onto the dance mat.

Realising that they were not letting her off the hook, Mai reluctantly agreed. "If I break my ankle trying to dance in these shoes, you lot pay my medical bill," she huffed, stepping up onto the dance mat to the right hand side of Anzu.

"Then take your shoes off if they're that bad to dance in!" Katsu suggested. How the heck Mai could wear shoes like that every day, was beyond her.

Mai responded by pulling off her high heeled ankle boots and tossing them at Katsu.

"Geez Mai! That nearly got my head," Katsu complained, swiping one of the pointy heeled clod hoppesr out of the air, as the other hit her shoulder.

Not wanting Mai to gain any advantage, Anzu tossed her shoes, a little more gently than Mai just had, to Yugi.

Anzu placed her coin in the slot and turned to Mai. "Ready?"

Mai nodded. "As I'll ever be."

The music started and the lights on the floor under their feet started to illuminate in sequence to the music, while the screens in front of them displayed the moves they needed to perform and showed the scores.

It was easy to begin with and neither of them missed a step, but as the difficulty level started to increase, so did Anzu's confidence and enjoyment of the game. When Mai chanced an out of breath glance at her, Anzu looked to be in her element. Mai may be the duelist of the two but she could not hope to out perform Anzu at this particular game – it was getting faster, more complicated and harder and harder to keep up.

"I'm done!" Panting, Mai grabbed the hand rail and stopped dancing. 'YOU LOSE' flashed on her side.

Smiling and slightly breathless, Anzu stopped dancing. "Thank you Mai! Look at the level we made it to?! You were a really tough opponent. I'm really out of breath!"

Mai snorted and rolled her eyes. "You don't look out of breath at all." Mai could feel her face glowing and sweat forming on her lower back. Anzu looked slightly pink cheeked, but otherwise was as fresh as a daisy!

It was only when the two girls turned around to look at their friends, that they noticed the crowd of people who had gathered to watch the two beautiful young women dancing. Some were girls who wished they could dance like that. The rest were pimply faced boys and some older men, wanting to see bouncing boobs, a bit of thigh, and maybe a flash of underwear.

Among the crowd was Goro and his two pals. They were standing not far away from where their friends were standing.

Disappointed that the two girls had finished dancing, the crowd started to disperse. But Goro and his pals stayed where they were.

Anzu wanted to shout a warning, to let her friends know that the feared bully was looming large behind them. But apart from standing there, Goro was not doing anything wrong.

However, she knew how much Goro and his friends hated her for winning the prime spot at the school fayre, and they hated Yugi even more for standing up to them. Her biggest fear however, was how Katsu might react to them.

She and Mai jumped off the platform and bounded over to their friends.

Anzu quickly got between Yugi and Katsu. Linking arms with them, she tried to get them to move away from where they were standing."Come on!" She said, anxiously tugging on their arms when they seemed more interested in handing back the shoes she and Mai had tossed to them.

Unfortunately, Anzu also managed to accidentally lock eyes with Goro's. Quickly looking away again, she tried to pretend not to have recognised him. But it was too late. Sensing something was wrong, her two friends had already turned to see what she was looking at.

Before anyone could say anything, Goro reacted. "Hey! What's your problem? Not trying to avoid us are you?"

Yugi started to worry. His other Self had promised not to punish any more people, so a Shadow Game was out of the question. But he might be forced into starting one if Goro and his friends followed them outside and things got bad.

Usually they could rely on Jonouchi's ability as a fist fighter, while Honda backed him up. But he doubted Katsu had the physical strength to fight like Jonouchi always could. Honda would have to take them on alone. He and Bakura would have to try and back him up. But Bakura was even worse in a fist fight than he was.

Unless he could pre-empt the inevitable, they were doomed.

He decided to try the friendly approach. "Oh! Hey Goro! We were just going to play another game," he managed to say, without stuttering. He could see by their body language that they were hoping for trouble – as always.

Goro cracked his knuckles and smirked. "A game eh? And what were you planning this time?"

Only Yugi really understood what he was referring to, but he wasn't about to take the bait. He could feel the Puzzle growing warm on his chest and knew that his other Self preparing to step in, but Yugi pushed him back down – not here, not now. "I don't know. We were thinking of playing..." his eyes were drawn to the machines to the left of Goro and his friends. "Pac Man or Walking Dead. How about you and your friends join us?" He had not meant to invite them, but it had kind of just slipped out!

"Yeah, squirt. I'll take you on," one of Goro's pals replied, with a slightly sinister undertone, as he loomed over the diminutive teen.

Yugi was unsure what to say. He did not want to speak for his friends and commit them to gaming against these three, but where games were concerned, he would take on any challenge thrown at him. And they were in a public arcade! How could anything bad happen here?

Before he could respond, Anzu spoke up. "Don't play against them Yugi, please?" She gripped Yugi's arm, protectively.

"What do you really want Goro?" Honda stepped up. "He knew they would not start a fight in here. But there was every chance that they would when they got outside."

Goro made a gesture with his hands and shrugged. "Why be so aggressive Hiroto? We all go to the same school, don't we? As seniors, we just wanted to look out for the younger students! It can be dangerous staying out too late. A lot of gangs looking for trouble." Goro's face stayed taut under the gauze, but his eyes glinted and his mouth did manage to crinkle up into a smirk. His two friends smirked and chuckled at their boss' comment.

Katsu had been biting her tongue, desperately trying to kept quiet. But her blood was boiling so furiously that it was becoming harder and harder to keep her mouth shut and not draw attention to herself. Luckily, Mai placed a calming hand on her arm.

"Why don't you three just lave my friends alone and I won't report your behaviour to your principal," said Mai.

A moment of tension hung in the air for a moment, as everyone waited for a response.

Eventually, Goro snorted. "Whatever. Woman." The way he said 'woman' was insulting, but dispite her hackles rising, Mai did not react, and continued to fix Goro with her warning glare.

Feeling that this confrontation was now pointless, Goro blinked and looked away from her. "Let's go," he growled at his two subordinates.

The trio pushed their way through the group of friends, to make their way to the exit.

As they passed by, the thug who had challenged Yugi to play Pacman, shoulder barged him. "I should watch yourself Mutou! You might fool everyone else into thinking you're an innocent little kid, but we know that underneath that pathetic exterior, you're a psychopath."

Yugi said nothing, but Anzu was outraged. She had not had the opportunity, or courage, to challenge Goro and his gang for what he had done that day. Now was her chance. "How dare you! You stole our pitch, and when Yugi tried to stand up for everyone, you hit him so hard with that grill you could have killed him! If anyone's a psychopath, you are."

"It's okay Anzu. It's in the past now. Don't be upset. I wasn't badly hurt," Yugi quietly said to her.

The second thug laughed at Yugi and Anzu. "You two are pathetic."

Still wary of Yugi after receiving flash burns at the end of their game, Goro did not join in the heckling. His memories of the Shadow Game had initially been suppressed, but he had slowly pieced together what had happened: The kid was like some sort of vengeful demon! He might look sweet and innocent now, but he had set up a dangerous game and challenged Goro without showing any fear. The expression on his face had been nothing like the brat in front of him now. And when Goro lost and the acid blew up in his face, Yugi had pointed to a bucket of water placed nearby and then calmly walked away, leaving him there to nurse his own burns. If his two friends had not arrived seconds later, the burns might have been worse.

Katsu had been trying to keep quiet, but Goro and his thugs were not leaving peacefully. And now they were insulting Yugi and Anzu. Fists clenched and shaking, she erupted. "Why don't you bunch of losers back off and leave my friends alone?" Instead of sounding threatening, it came out as an almost tearful outburst. Katsu almost cringed at how stupid she sounded.

Goro and his pals had not taken too much notice of her up until now, but suddenly their attention was drawn to her.

Spinning round to face her, Goro stared. This feisty little tart sounded familiar. "Who are you?" He recognised her but he was not sure where from. "Are you and the other bitch their protectors or something?" He snickered, looking at Mai standing beside her.

"Yeah... maybe I am. So what are you gonna do? Hit a girl?" Katsu's retort made her friends squirm.

Goro laughed so much that it made the sore skin under his gauze stretch so much that it nearly tore. "If you want a good spanking, why don't you ask me nicely? I'm more than happy to oblige."

"Why you...!" Like a lion about to take down a wildebeest, Katsu pounced.

Luckily, Honda and Mai caught her and held her back. "Lemme go! I wanna..." Honda slapped a hand over her mouth.

"That's enough, okay? They're not worth it. Don't let them upset you."

"It's okay... Katsu!" Mai soothed. "They're leaving. Don't start a fight with them now."

Katsu pushed Honda's hand away from her face. "They started it!" She pouted.

All three thugs were looking at her suspiciously now. They were starting to place who she reminded them of. They had suddenly noticed that a vital member of Yugi's pack of morons was not here.

"Are you Jonouchi's crazed twin sister or something? You've certainly got his bad attitude!"

"He's my cousin. So, what?" Katsu gulped. Shit! Shit! Please don't let them guess who she was.

Mai salvaged the situation for her. "Yeah, I'm afraid the bad attitude is a family trait. Slightest little thing sets them off. So, why don't we all just go back to whatever we were doing before you came over here and started picking on my friends? And I will forget this little confrontation never happened."

"Yes, I agree with Mai," said Ryou nervously. He could feel the heat from the Ring, burning into his chest. The Spirit inside was stirring and the last thing he wanted was for him to show himself and punish these three fools in public. His expression changed very subtly, as the Spirit pushed Ryou's conscious mind aside and spoke through him. "So, I would suggest you three pieces of insignificant scum, leave now, before something rather terrible happens to you," he hissed.

The trio were dumbfounded and gawked at him, disbelieving of the sinister words that were coming from the usually polite boy's mouth. "What did you just say? Asshole!" One of the trio snarled.

Yugi and his friends turned to look at Bakura and gasped when they instantly spotted that the Ring was controlling him. "Oh, crap!" Honda muttered. "Hey! Bakura. We got this, Okay?"

"No... It's not okay." He sneered to reveal his sharp canines. No one called his host an asshole and got away with it.

Fear suddenly crept up the spines of the trio and they visibly seemed to recoil slightly. Goro snorted. "Don't think this is over." He backed away before turning and sloping off with his two friends in tow. There were too many people watching anyway for him to deal with Yugi and his friends here. Any violence among students of Domino High School was bound to get reported back to the principal, so they decided to wait outside and ambush them on the way home.

"Bakura! Are you..." Yugi began, but had to blink when he saw the gentle brown eyes and soft smile on his friends face. "Phew! For a minute there, I thought you were the other Bakura."

"Don't be silly Yugi!" Ryou smiled sweetly at him. "I'm not stupid enough to risk wearing the Ring! But I am getting very good at acting. And it worked! I succeeded in frightening them off." He was blushing profusely and his friends did not believe him for one moment, but they did not want a confrontation with the evil Spirit, or any more bad feelings with Ryou so they shrugged and let it go.

Not wishing for the evening to end on a sour note, they went to play some more games.

They were all too busy focussing on Yugi taking another high score, to notice Ryou quietly slip away from them.

Cold steely eyes glinted, as Bakura followed Goro Inogashira and his friends outside.

::::::::::::

Crossing over the road, Goro and his friends waited in the shadow of one of the cherry trees that lined the walkway. Although it was already dark, the street lighting illuminated the walkway very well. But under the tree, they were fairly well concealed. They knew that the group would have to come this way to go home.

Bakura exited the arcade and watched them from the shadow of the doorway as they settled in their hiding place. As a masterful thief, he could use the cover of darkness far better than these pathetic humans could. His eyes were as keen as those of a cat on the prowl and he could pick out their every movement with ease.

He watched as Goro pulled out a flick-knife and proceeded to carve his initials into the bark of the tree. Bakura was not afraid of such a pathetic little blade.

Allowing his features to soften into those of his host, he stepped out of the doorway and onto the pedestrian crossing.

One of Goro's pals spotted him and nudged his leader. "Hey! Look! It's that brat Bakura!"

Bakura knew that they had seen him and waved at them with a friendly smile.

"What the fuck is is playing at?" Goro shook his head in disbelief at the stupid, suicidal fool.

"Hello guys!" Bakura beamed, as he approached. "I thought I saw you hiding behind the tree. What are you hiding from?" It was said so innocently, the trio almost choked on their laughter.

"Are you some sort of fucking idiot?" One of the thugs sneered. "You realise we're gonna beat the crap out of you, don't you?"

"Really?!" Bakura pretended to be surprised. "Three on one! Now, that is unfair," he tutted at them.

"Then I suggest you run kid, before we put you in the hospital," said Goro, cracking his knuckles. But Bakura didn't move.

"I have a better idea!" His face and voice started to take on a more sinister edge. "How about I put all three of you in the hospital? " When the trio responded by laughing at him, he smirked. "Laughing at me is unwise. It might cost you your lives. But, before I kill you, how about a little card game first? If you win, you can beat me up. If you lose, you die. Deal?"

The trio snorted. "Are you for real?" One of them asked, trying to hide his growing fear.

"Oh! I'm very real. Human slime..." They looked at him in disbelief as he pulled out three cards.

"You wanna play Duel Monsters?!" Goro chuckled, recognising the back of the cards. "Sorry, but we don't play."

"Oh dear! Then I guess I win." He fanned out the three cards and turned them to face the trio. All three cards were blank and the thugs looked puzzled.

However, their expressions turned from puzzled to terrified when the Ring underneath Ryou's clothing magically materialised on the outside of his sweatshirt and started glowing.

Bakura's form almost seemed to shimmer with dark swirling tendrils, as a burst of bright light shot from the ring. The thugs had to cover their eyes from the brightness.

Seconds later, all three slumped to the ground as their souls were ripped from their bodies.

Leaving them in the shadow of the tree under which they had fallen, Bakura casually walked away and got on the bus to go home.

He smirked down at the images of the open mouthed, frightened faces of the three thugs, who were now prisoners inside his cards. That would teach them to pick on his host and the Pharaohs' vessel.

It was not until Yugi got bored of the game and ended it, that any of them realised that Ryou had gone.

"I will text him," said Anzu, pulling out her phone.

She received a message back almost immediately, to say that the noise and stress had caused him to develop a migraine, and that he had left quietly so as not to disturb them while Yugi was concentrating on playing a game.

Anzu rolled her eyes. Even without the Ring's influence, Ryou could behave strangely at times.

Honda checked his watch. "I should be getting home too."

"We should all go," Anzu decided. "Especially since Yugi has to be up early to help his grandfather."

Agreeing that they should all stick together, in case Goro was outside, the group left the arcade.

"We only have to make it as far as my car," Mai told them. "I will drive you home."

"Thank you Mai," said Anzu, breathing a sigh of relief. It was only about one hundred metres to Mai's car. And the pavement was well lit.

Relieved that there appeared to be no sign of Goro and his thugs waiting for them, they walked across the road to where Mai had parked her car, and Honda his motorcycle. They had no idea that they were walking just metres away from where the trio of thugs lay soulless on the ground.

"I'm worried about Ryou," Anzu suddenly said. "What if Goro followed him rather than wait for us?"

"I don't think we need to worry about Bakura," Honda responded. "Did you see his face earlier?"

Mai looked at him blankly. "What face?" Said Mai. She was not familiar with the Millennium Ring and the influence it had over the quiet blonde boy.

"Yeah, I did," Yugi nodded. "I didn't like to say anything in front of everyone, but he wasn't mimicking the evil Bakura, I could tell."

Anzu was a little upset at Ryou's dishonesty. He had promised her that he would leave that thing at home. "Why would he lie to us about not wearing the Ring?"

Yugi was quick to stick up for their absent friend. "He wasn't lying. The spirit that lives in the Ring was the one speaking. Ryou is just a passenger when it takes over."

Honda's expression was serious. "I was standing close to him. I could feel the malice coming from him. I thought he was gonna slice and dice Goro like he did those goons at Pegasus' castle."

Anzu shuddered. Honda had never been too eager to discuss the incident that night, when he and Ryou had been chased and cornered on a ledge, hundreds of feet above the forest, by Pegasus' guards. All he had recounted of the incident, was that the pair had been hit with such force that their necks had snapped. Honda had told them that he had been forced to rip the Ring from around Bakura's neck, and had hurled it it into the forest below.

It was scary to think that the Ring always seemed to find its way back to Bakura. She concluded that in the wrong hands the Millennium Items could be dangerous. Thank God Yugi and his other Self were strong enough to resist any evil that might be present inside their item.

Walking closely beside her, Yugi felt her shudder and thought that she was cold. "Would you like my jacket?" He asked.

"I'm fine, thanks Yugi. I was just thinking about the Millennium Items. How many are there in total do you think?"

"Well, according to Grandpa, there are seven items all together. We have come across four, but there are two more that are apparently still missing. Grandpa said that, according to records, that they have not been seen for over two thousand years! But I'm pretty sure that they will turn up at some point, because the items all seem to be drawn to one another."

Anzu shuddered again. "I hope that whoever has them isn't evil."

"Well, I will be ready for them if they are," Yugi chuckled and scratched his head. He had no idea why the other Millennium Item holders had it in for him and his other Self. Maybe it was because the Puzzle was the most powerful of all the items, and they wanted that ultimate power for themselves.

Upon reaching Mai's Mazda sports car, Yugi, Anzu and Katsu climbed in, while Honda climbed onto his motorcycle and waved farewell, before riding off.

Mai dropped Yugi off first and then took Anzu and Katsu home.

Sat in the front passenger seat, Katsu had been unusually quiet. Tonight could so easily have been a disaster. She had more or less let herself down by having a Jonouchi style outburst, that could have given the game away. If she had learned anything from what had happened this evening, it was that there was absolutely no way she could go out again for fear of someone putting two and two together and realising who she was. If they did, Jonouchi's reputation as a tough guy would be destroyed in an instant; he would forever be thought of as a transvestite.

At the very thought, Katsu nearly cried out, but instead dug her prettily painted, manicured fingernails into the thighs of her Jeggings until she could feel them burning into her flesh. Don't break down here, not in front of Mai.

But when Mai turned to her and said, "Well hun! I must say, now that I'm over the shock of you changing sex, you make a pretty good girlfriend to hang out with." Katsu screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you think.


	13. Introspection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Katsu suffers a bit of a meltdown in front of Anzu and Mai.  
> Concerned, Yugi and Anzu also investigate what happened to Goro and his pals, with a dangerous outcome.  
> Things are not going too well with Ryou either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many of you have probably heard of the following. But in case you haven't, here is a brief description of some of the things mentioned in this chapter:-
> 
> Yuzu – a citrus fruit grown in Japan that is a little bit like a lemon.
> 
> Wagyu – is a Japanese cow, that produces prime beef steaks. Depending on the quality of the marbling, it can be very expensive. The cows are pampered and actually live better than most humans! Kobe/Matsusaka beef are probably the most well known. It is becoming popular in the UK at high end restaurants and farmers here are now rearing herds.
> 
> Red-Crowned Crane - is an iconic, but endangered species of wading bird (with long legs) that lives on Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan.

When Katsu screamed, Anzu and Mai flinched and covered their ears.

Almost hyperventilating, she screamed again and started tugging at her hair in frustration. "I can't do this! I can't, I can't! I've fucking had enough!"

"Wh... what did I say?" Mai could not understand how such an innocent comment might have triggered such a catastrophic meltdown. She was not trying to be insensitive. She was trying to help!

Anzu leaned between the seats and placed a calming hand over Katsu's shoulder. "It's okay Katsu. Breathe... in through your nose, out through your mouth.." She shot Mai a warning glare.

"Look! I'm sorry if what I said came over as unsympathetic," said Mai, defensively. "But you know me! I always speak my mind. I actually thought it was a compliment."

"Well, sometimes it's better to not say anything," Anzu irritably replied.

"It's okay Anzu. Don't blame Mai. It's been building up for a while," Katsu muttered, in a small, weak voice. "None of this mess is your fault."

"If it will help to talk? I'm all ears. I won't judge." Mai smiled sheepishly and reached out to take Katsu's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. It was amazing how delicate and soft the hand was. She remembered from a handshake with Jonouchi, that his grip had been strong and the knuckles bony and hard like a bare knuckle boxer.

"I thought I was doing great, but I've just realised something." Katsu swallowed harshly and sighed. "I ain't cut out for this crap! I thought I could manage having tits and no balls. But my hormones, or whatever, are all over the place! One minute I feel all girly and find myself liking pretty dresses and shit! The next, I'm thinking like a dude and wondering why the fuck I think Seto Kaiba is sexy!"

Anzu gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You only have to survive for three and bit more weeks and you will be back to normal." She was trying to be sympathetic, but each time Katsu had her little meltdowns, it was getting harder to know what to say.

Meanwhile, Mai's eyebrows had shot up and her mouth was flapping open in surprise "D... Did you just say you thought Kaiba was sexy?!" She could not resist snickering.

"Yeah! What's so funny?" Katsu yanked her hand away from Mai's grip. "Stop laughing at me!"

"Oh... hon! I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing because you said Seto Kaiba was sexy! From what I've seen, the guy has got a rod up his arse and always has a face like a squeezed yuzu!"

Anzu could not stop herself giggling at that. And even Katsu almost managed a smile. She glanced at Mai. "You mean you don't find him just a little bit sexy?" She teased.

"Hell no! I mean, he's filthy rich and has a decent upper body, but he has legs like a red-crowned crane and no personality. If he smiled and was nice to people, he might just pass for a sex god. But little Yugi – no disrespect Anzu – but even little Yugi is hot in comparison."

"Yeah, but Yugi's my best pal!" Katsu protested. "I would never look at him like that!"

"But you and Kaiba hate each other!" Mai almost shrieked in exasperation.

"Yeah, which makes it all the more fun dating him and letting him buy me Wagyu beef steaks and expensive champagne," she grinned.

Mai was a little concerned. "But what if he finds out?"

"It's okay Mai," Anzu interrupted. "We've already had this conversation." She let out a tired sounding sigh. "I'm afraid Katsu is as bull headed as Jonouchi when it comes to doing stupid things."

Katsu was offended at the remark, but couldn't argue; they were both right about her playing a dangerous game. But she was going to be stuck like this for a few more weeks. And although she still believed that she could breeze through it and stay in touch with her male brain, it was proving far more difficult and complicated than she imagined – hence the constant emotional roller coaster and random meltdowns.

There was no escaping the fact that her outlook wasbecoming more female than male. She no longer fancied girls and kept looking at boys. And that was worrying!

She looked at Mai and Anzu and smiled sadly. They were the best friends a girl – and a guy – could ever have. They were sticking by her, helping her and even tolerating her when she screamed and cried at them. "Thanks you two. I dunno what I would do without you. Especially you Anzu; for letting me stay at your house, lending me clothes and stuff, and helping me come to terms with myself."

"It's okay Katsu. When I drew that smiley face on our hands at Death-T, and said it was to symbolise our friendship, I meant it sincerely. No matter what obstacles are thrown in our way we will always stick together and face those obstacles in the way that best friends should."

"Yeah, ta...," Katsu twisted round to grasp Anzu's hand, giving it a squeeze of gratitude. "I think I've calmed down again now. Just sorry you both had to witness me going all hysterical," she grimaced sheepishly. "Bumping into those morons from school earlier brings it home to me just what a knife edge I'm on. All it takes is one slip up; like me swearing and beating the crap outta some dude for coming on to me, or if one of you guys accidentally calls me Jonouchi, I'm totally screwed."

"Well, none of us have slipped up so far. Your secret is safe with us," Anzu stated, resolutely.

Seeing the close friendship shared between the two, caused Mai to wonder if they really needed her here.

As much as she admired their strong bond of friendship, she was also perturbed by it. She would always feel like an outsider, no matter how hard she tried not to be. Her first instinct was to shove them out of the car and tell them that if they did not want her as a friend, they could get lost.

But then she checked herself. This was not a moment for her to be jealous and start reflecting on her own deep seated bitterness. She needed to show them the kindness that they had showed her. Perhaps then, she would no longer feel like an outsider.

"Look! I know I wasn't around when you did the smiley face thing, but... you guys still treat me like a friend. I'm sticking around town for a while. So if you want me to? I will help you get through this."

"Thanks Mai," Katsu sighed. "But... nah, never mind. I just want you to promise me, that once I'm back to normal, you won't ever talk about me being a girl. I want to forget Katsu ever existed. You both got that?"

Over the last week or so, Anzu had grown fond of Katsu. She thought it sad that Katsu wanted them all to forget about her after she has gone. "If that's your wish, then we will honour it," she reluctantly agreed. But deep down, she knew she would never be able to forget their newest friend. It was a shame that the Millennium Items could not separate out the new personality that had grown from Jonouchi's soul, into two different people. But if they were able do that, then wouldn't the other Yugi would have had his own body by now? It was something she could only wish for.

Not wishing to dwell on the fact that Katsu would, in effect, die, Mai changed the subject. "You mentioned your sister in your cover story earlier. How is she doing? I admire you for the way you fought so hard for her at Duelist Kingdom." Mai smiled at the memory. Despite his limited duelling experience, Jonouchi had shown so much determination and courage. At the time, she had been angry about losing to such an amateur. However, the circumstances under which he had defeated her and exposed her 'aromatics' strategy, no longer made her angry. It had actually taught her a valuable lesson about her own insecurities and why she had felt the need to cheat in the first place! She had grown to rather like the excitable young man to the point where she almost had a bit of a soft spot for him.

"My little sis... Shizuka." Katsu smiled reflectively at the thought of her younger sister "She's doing fine at the moment. Like I said at Yugi's place earlier: The doc says he won't operate yet because she still has some sight. Yugi is keeping the money safe in his account for me until I need it. I can't risk putting it in my account because the bank will take it to pay me and my dad's debts."

"Well, wish her all the best from me. I take it your family don't know about you becoming Katsu?" Mai asked.

"Shit! No way! My dad would call me a queer, a tranny and just about any other insult he could come up with. Mum would freak out and not understand at all. Only Shizuka would be understanding. She loves me and... I guess she might be a bit sad at first, but she is such a sweet, kind person. She would tell me it doesn't matter what I am and would be cool with me like this because she loves me. But I still don't want none of them to know."

Feeling an emotional lump well up in her throat, Anzu smiled. "Well, you can trust us, can't she Mai?"

"You bet, hon." Mai checked the time. "Well, it's getting late. You've got school and I'm still a bit jet lagged." She winked at them both.

Katsu grimaced. "Can we not mention school?" She pleaded.

Anzu rolled her eyes. "You can't keep avoiding it."

"Yeah, I can and I will," She snapped, with more than a hint of finality. "Anyway, thanks for the pep talk you two. " Chatting to them had certainly helped her to calm down, but there was no way she wanted to think about school.

::::::::::::

The following morning, Anzu overslept and was running late. She messaged Yugi to say that her mother was giving her a lift and that she would meet him at school.

Her mother waited for Anzu to fasten her seatbelt and then reversed off the driveway. "Why has Katsu not been attending school?" She suddenly asked. Her main issues were that her daughter had told her Katsu was an exchange student, and had chosen to come here because she was Jonouchi's cousin. Her mother was not familiar with Jonouchi because he had never been to the house before, but it seemed strange that he had still not been near, even with his cousin here!

"Huh?!" Anzu yawned, trying to deflect her mother's questioning. It did not work.

"You should go to bed earlier. Eleven pm on a school night is too late. I heard you come in. Katsu's got a loud voice."

Anzu could not help chuckle at that. "Yes, it must run in the family. Jonouchi can be loud too."

"Strange that he has not been around, don't you think? Your other friends have been over, but I would have thought that since he and Katsu are cousins, they would want to spend some time together."

Anzu nearly gulped, but managed to stop herself from floundering at the question. "Mum! What's with the inquisition? Jonouchi has a few problems at home. That's why Katsu can't stay at the flat. I know it's inconvenient, but Jonouchi has had to go and see his sister because she's in hospital. While he was away his dad got arrested again and Jonouchi is having to work extra hours to pay his fine. He was there when we went to the arcade last night though." She was getting too good at lying!

"Oh, okay. I was going to suggest that you invite all your friends round at the weekend, if you like? It would be nice to get to know the boys you spent a weekend on a tropical island with, a little better."

Anzu startled. Oh, no! Did that mean her mother had found out that the weekend they spent on Pegasus' Island was not a camping trip with Miho and her family? Is that why she had offered her a lift to school this morning? So she could reprimand her? "About that.. I can explain... Erm... how did you find out?"

"I bumped into Mrs Nosaka in the supermarket. She knew nothing about a weekend camping trip, but did say something about Yugi winning a world title at some card game, during the weekend you were away."

"Yeah... About that!" Anzu cringed. "Yugi and Jonouchi were competing in a Duel Monsters tournament, on an island owned by Pegasus – he created the game. I'm really sorry I lied, but I really wanted to go and I knew that if I said I was going with Yugi and three other boys, Dad would stop me. Have you told Dad yet?"

Her mother shook her head. "No, not yet. I wanted to give you a chance to tell me the truth first."

They were silent for a moment, before Anzu muttered that she was sorry.

"Is there anything going on that I should know about?" Her mother said, glancing at her as they waited for the traffic lights to change.

"No! We're all just friends! I'm closest to Yugi, but we're not involved romantically. It's against school rules. You do trust me, don't you?"

"Yes, of course I do sweetheart. But please don't lie to us again."

"Will you tell Dad?"

"Not this time. Tell Yugi, congratulations on his title. I have to say, I'm quite surprised! I always thought he seemed so... I'm not sure how to say it since he's your friend, but he doesn't seem confident enough!"

"Mum..!" Anzu felt protective towards Yugi and didn't like it when anyone insulted him. "There's a lot more to Yugi than you think. He's a good friend and he's fun to be around. He's also extremely talented at games. You should see him when he plays! He really comes out of his shell and is amazing. He's also the kindest person I know. He even gave his winnings to Jonouchi; so he could pay for his sister to have an operation that will save her eyesight."

As she turned left into the road opposite the school, Mrs Mazaki glanced at her daughter and smiled. There was always a keen fondness in her daughter's voice when she spoke of the boy she had known since her first day at school. "It's okay darling. I wasn't being disrespectful towards him. I'm just surprised! Because he always seems so shy. But he's a nice boy and I have always found him very polite. I like him. You could do a lot worse you know," she winked and Anzu blushed with embarrassment at what her mother was implying.

Relieved they had arrived at the school so that she could escape further inquisition, she kissed her mother on the cheek. "Bye Mum!" She leaped out of the car so quickly that she almost shut her book bag in the door.

Having arrived at school with enough time to spare, she made her way to the shoe racks to change into her indoor shoes. Yugi was there, changing into his indoor shoes.

She called his name and waved. He looked up and gave her a tired, worried smile. "Did you hear the news?" He said. Anzu gave him a confused look.

"No! What news?"

"Three students from this school were found unconscious near to the arcade by a dog walker early this morning. They didn't release names, but I'm guessing it might be Goro and his friends."

Anzu bit her lip thoughtfully. "Are you sure? What makes you think that?"

"Just after they left the arcade, Bakura also left. The other Me thinks he may have followed them and taken their souls."

"Do you think we should investigate? I wouldn't like to accuse Bakura and then find out he hasn't done anything."

"I already checked. Goro and his friends usually hang out near the bicycle shed and take money off the kids in return for not stealing their bikes. There was no sign of them when I came in. Their indoor shoes are still here too." He pointed at the numbered cubby holes set within the wooden storage units along the walls, where all the students placed their outdoor shoes when they changed into their indoor ones.

Anzu was still slightly sceptical. "Those guys often don't bother changing their shoes anyway. We should check their classroom to make sure." Quickly changing her footwear, she dragged him off to investigate further.

Stopping outside senior class B, she deliberately dropped her bag, spilling the contents on the floor.

Horrified at the risk she was taking, Yugi gasped. "Anzu!"

Trying to be as quiet as possible, he knelt down and hurriedly started to pick up her stuff before one of the seniors caught them. She knocked the book out of his hand.

"What are you doing?" He hissed, looking around nervously.

"Take your time Yugi," she said. "See if you can look into the classroom and check if they're there."

"Is that a good idea? If they see..." His sentence was cut short when a shadow suddenly loomed over them.

Gulping, Yugi looked up to see Ushio glowering over him. The thug had been avoiding Yugi, and had also been much quieter since returning to school after his 'episode'. But right now, the look on Ushio's face told Yugi that the thug would like to kill him.

"Hi! Ushio," Yugi gulped, scrabbling to his feet with Anzu's bag in his hand. "We were just on the way to our classroom when Anzu dropped her bag." Just to emphasise his point, he waved the bag at the towering bully.

"I can see that!" Ushio ground his teeth menacingly. "Your classroom is upstairs, isn't it?" He pointed to where they had just come from. They had no reason for being in this corridor when the stairs to their classroom was next to the entranceway in which they had entered the building.

Grabbing the bag from Yugi's hand, Anzu put her hand inside the side pocket. "Ah! Found it! I wanted to hand this letter in to matron," she said, clutching a plain envelope. "I was rummaging in my bag for it when I dropped all my stuff. Silly me!" She shot Ushio a fake grin.

Not believing them, Ushio held his hand out. "Give it to me? I will see that matron gets it."

"No! It's private.. " she protested. "You know, ladies stuff. I don't want you reading it." She was squaring up to him and Yugi wandered if they would be better off making a run for it and then deal with the consequences later.

At the mention of 'ladies stuff' Ushio blushed and backed down. With a grunt, he told them to hurry up, before pulling the door open and stomping into the classroom.

While the door to the classroom was still fully open, Yugi took the opportunity to quickly glance inside. There was no sign of Goro or his friends.

Gathering up the rest of the contents from Anzu's bag, the pair hurried along to where matron's office and small infirmary were situated was. They glanced over their shoulders to see Ushio craning his neck around the door frame, his beady eyes still watching them.

"Geez! That guy should get his eyebrows waxed," Anzu huffed, making Yugi erupt with laughter. He could even feel his other self laughing.

As soon as Ushio stopped watching them and went back into his classroom, the pair legged it back down the corridor and up to their own classroom.

They made it just in the knick of time, darting into their classroom at the same time their teacher arrived.

"Cutting it fine this morning, Miss Mazaki, Mister Mutou! Hurry up and take your seats," their teacher ordered.

"Yes Sensei!" They both answered, rushing to sit down.

They were both quick to notice Ryou Bakura's empty seat and were worried that something might have happened to him last night.

Yugi was starting to become even more concerned about what might have happened after Bakura sloped off from the arcade last night.

He glanced at Anzu and then at Honda. Having caught Honda's attention, he gestured at Ryou's empty seat. Honda shrugged and mouthed, "No idea."

"Mister Mutou!" The teacher's abrupt voice made him jump. "Face front!"

"Yes Sir!" Yugi quickly swivelled round to face the front of the class. When the other students started snickering and muttering the teacher told them to be quiet.

"Mister Honda! Would you like to share your conversation with Mister Mutou with the rest of us?"

"We were just concerned that Bakura is not here, Sensei."

The teacher nodded. He had no idea where Ryou Bakura was as the boy had not called in to say why he was absent.  
However, not wanting his class of pupils to be disrupted further, he began the lesson.

::::::::::::

News that Goro and his pals had been admitted to hospital, suffering from unexplained comas, had quickly spread around the school and an assembly had been called just before the lunch break, to try and reassure everyone that it was not some kind of infectious disease that had been befalling both staff and pupils, but was more likely to be the result of them taking drugs. A lecture on the dangers of drug abuse followed.

But many were sceptical of this explanation and questions were being asked. The list of staff and pupils who had either gone into comas or had suffered unexplained breakdowns seemed to be growing.

Apart from Imori, most had recovered, but none of them seemed to have any recollection of how and why they had collapsed, or why they had suffered strange hallucinations. Many were saying it was witchcraft and that a curse had been placed on the school.

Throughout the assembly,Yugi and his friends stayed quiet.

Listening to the headmaster and his deputy head, struggling to come up with answers to the questions the students were throwing at them, made Yugi feel uncomfortable. He felt a sense of guilt over knowing that he and Bakura were responsible.

As soon as the assembly was over, he was relieved to get outside for some much needed fresh air.

His other Self materialised next to him. "I'm sorry you had to go through that Aibou. You should not be made to feel guilty for my actions."

"It's okay Other Me. I could never be angry with you for punishing them. You were trapped in the darkness for three thousand years and you were lost and confused. You didn't know what else you were supposed to do."

"Thank you. If it helps, I do feel bad about punishing them so severely."

"Don't feel bad. It wasn't all your fault. You were only acting on my thoughts."

"Yes, but I now know that while you might wish that someone would go and jump in the canal, go blind, deaf, or think rubbish was money, it does not necessarily mean you actually want that to happen to them."

"Yeah, well... let's just forget about it, shall we?" Sometimes, talking about dark thoughts was a little too disturbing.

Yami Yugi nodded with a wry smile. He knew Yugi felt bad that his own thoughts had prompted him to punish those wrongdoers. Even if they deserved it, in this world, it was not acceptable. "Suits me Aibou," he grinned.

Yugi had zoned out for a few moments and had only been half aware that they were heading for the roof. It always amazed him how he did not fall over or bump into things when he and his other Self were talking.

Since phones were not allowed to be turned on during lessons, they had been forced to wait until lunch break to contact Bakura. As soon as they reached the roof, Yugi tried ringing him. Bakura did not answer so he sent a message asking him to call as soon as possible.

Anzu was quite worried about him. The Ring often forced Ryou to do some pretty bad things, and it had no qualms about hurting him in its attempts to get what it wanted. The spirit inside the Ring was not friendly like the other Yugi. It was cruel, cynical and unstable. She had no doubt that it had wanted to kill them when it had sealed their souls into those game pieces – that had been made to look disturbingly like them! Luckily, with the help of the other Yugi, they had been able to defeat the 'Game Master' and his horrible looking demon, avatar thing that had been called 'Lord Zorc'. She shuddered at the thought of what might have happened to them that day if they had not managed to win.

"I think we should all go round to see him after school," she suggested, sending Bakura a message to inform him of their intentions.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Honda reasoned. "We can't risk another showdown like the one Yugi had with him the other day." He did not want to say too much in front of Anzu, but he was certain that if he had not been there, Yugi's alter ego would have killed Bakura.

"But shouldn't we make sure our Bakura is alright? I'm worried about him," she replied.

"Anzu's right. We have to make sure he is okay," Yugi stated, firmly. "And don't worry Honda, the other Me doesn't think he will try anything. The other Bakura knows he can't defeat the Puzzle." While wary of Bakura's motives, his other Self certainly did not fear him. And if his other Self was not afraid, then neither was Yugi.

::::::::::::

Ryou Bakura had been too afraid to go to school today. He had locked himself inside his apartment and had no intention of going near another person, ever again. He was going to stay indoors and when his food supply ran out he would wither away and die. It was a far better that he was dead than risk hurting anyone else.

The whole school must know what he had done to Goro and his friends by now. And even if they did not yet suspect him, he was sure they soon would. All they needed to do was go over his school records from the last four years and they would quickly correlate all of the unexplained comas that occurred at those other schools, with the ones that were now happening at Domino. It would not take a genius to work out that he was the cause.

His phone rang and he peered over at the screen. Yugi was ringing him. Yugi must be calling to tell him that the school were expelling him. They knew – they must. And if they had not worked it out, he would not blame Yugi and his friends for ratting on him after the things he had done to them since meeting them.

He sat there, watching it ring, waiting until it went to voicemail. Moments later, a message from Anzu popped up. The message said that they would come and see him after school. He decided that he would pretend he was not in.

He made himself a pot of earl grey and spent the rest of the afternoon curled up on his sofa, staring at the three cards on the coffee table. Each one was a soul prison for Goro and his two thugs.

Someone must have seen what he did to them! He was almost expecting a visit from the police and school counsellor, but no one came. It was like this every time he hurt someone and he hated it.

The door bell broke him from his trance. He had lost all track of time! How long had he been sat here in the same position? At least three hours, he realised.

"Answer the door." A voice in his head instructed. A shiver ran through his pale frame as he shook his head, making his head movements seem erratically animated.

"How can you be so unkind to your friends?" The voice was gentle and coaxing, but still held an undercurrent of malice. "They are concerned about you. If you don't let them in, I will!"

Ryou knew what the implications of that were. He would most likely challenge them to another shadow game, with souls on the line – again.

"Are you thinking ill of me again my host? I promise, if you let them in, I will behave. Scouts honour."

Ryou stood so abruptly, he saw stars. "What do you know about Scouts?!" He angrily spat, enraged.

"You made me befriend that mentally ill man and inspired him to become 'Choppy'! You told him to kill those poor kids in my Scout group! They were my friends!"

Knowing he had pushed him too far again, the spirit withdrew back inside the Ring. He still needed his host to co-operate, and aggravating him too much was counter productive and a waste of energy.

Reluctantly, Bakura answered the door to find his friends standing there, with a mixture of concern and apprehension.

He had no choice but to let them in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who are not familiar with the manga: Death-T was a series of life or death games Seto designed, specifically for Yugi to face. Choppy, was the serial killer he hired to man one of the games.


	14. Crippled By Guilt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yugi, Anzu and Honda pay Ryou Bakura a visit to see how he is and discover that he is not a happy bunny.  
> Katsu also gets invited to the Kaiba Mansion for dinner.

Unbolting the door, Ryou pulled it open and was met with three grinning faces. He could tell by how false their grins were that they were more than just a little wary of him.

As always, Yugi stood centre front with Anzu at his side, while Honda stood as rear guard. There was a huge glaring hole on Yugi's other flank where Jonouchi would normally stand, making Ryou feel sad that he was the reason the blonde was missing.

"Hey Bakura!" Said Yugi, with forced cheerfulness.

Gesturing wearily for them to enter, Ryou clung forlornly to the door, watching, as they entered his apartment and kicked off their shoes.

"How are you feeling now Bakura?" Anzu gently enquired.

"Yeah, man!" Honda cut in, a little less gently. "We were worried when you didn't come to school! We thought something might have happened to you."

"So, we came to see if there was anything we can do to help?" Yugi added on.

"It's okay Yugi, I woke up feeling sick." That was no lie. The anxiety the Ring caused him made him feel sick to the core quite often.

"You do look very pale Bakura," said Anzu, her concern growing tenfold.

"I haven't eaten all day," he confessed.

"Would you like me to make you something?" She offered.

He nodded slowly. "I suppose I should try and eat." He lead them to the kitchen, where Anzu put the kettle on to boil for some tea, along with a pan for some noodles.

While they were waiting, Yugi decided to bring up the subject of Goro.

"Did you do something to Goro and his friends, Bakura?" Not wishing to spark any nasty reaction from the Ring, he asked as politely as he could.

When Ryou did not answer, Honda added. "Yeah, they weren't at school. Apparently, they were found unconscious near the arcade."

"Please, tell us the truth Ryou? We want to help you," Anzu smiled as kindly and supportively as she could.

"Why are you all accusing me?" Ryou sniffed, tears brimming his eyes. "It's not fair that these things keep happening and everyone blames ME! Why does no one ever say anything about the things that Yugi has done?" His sounded desperate, maybe even a touch envious.

Yugi was not sure how to respond and glanced at his friends sheepishly – they knew very little about the Shadow Games he had started.

But before any of them could say anything, Bakura became more malicious. When he spoke his voice was like ice sliding down their backs. "Have you never questioned the mental breakdowns that occurred before I arrived at the school?" He was met with blank looks from Anzu and Honda. "No, I thought not." He gave Yugi a dark, knowing look. "Did you feel a rush of pleasure when you crushed Seto Kaiba's mind... Yugi?"

As well as the change in voice, Yugi did not fail to notice the hint of dark shadow, that swirled and glinted inside those icy lavender irises, for a split second. He could feel his other Self requesting to take control but denied his request. They could not risk another confrontation.

"Kaiba deserved it!" Anzu snapped, in defense of her friend. "Yugi had no choice! kaiba tried to kill us!"

"Yeah, Bakura! At least Yugi doesn't deliberately hurt his friends!" Honda snapped, angry at Bakura's attempt to divert them from his own dirty deeds and instead point the accusing finger at Yugi.

Sensing that the nameless Pharaoh was not coming out to play, Yami Bakura withdrew, leaving Ryou to deal with the awkward situation he had just caused.

"I'm sorry." Feeling ashamed, Ryou looked at the floor. "I didn't mean to accuse you of anything Yugi. It was Him. He forces his own will on me and makes me say things. I can't stop him."

"It's okay Bakura," said Yugi, softly. "We're not angry with you. The other Me admits that he did challenge one or two bullies and subject them to Penalty Games. But he never hurt anyone or stole their soul just for fun. He did it to protect me and my friends, and he always gives the bad guys the chance to redeem themselves."

Ryou was a little surprised that Yugi seemed so nonchalant about the injuries and illness caused by the other Yugi's Shadow Games. He would have thought that since Yugi was a kind and sensitive soul – much like himself – he would have been a little more upset about it. But it was almost like he didn't care.

"Yes, but it still doesn't make it right Yugi," he scolded. "Our Millennium items possess the power to use us however they wish, to inflict punishment onto others. How many of the people your Puzzle has punished have died or been permanently maimed as a result of Shadow Games conducted by your alter ego?"

Yugi could not deny that people had died as a result of his other Self challenging them. Of course, it was unfortunate that they died. But one was a convicted murderer; who would have killed him and harmed Anzu if his other Self had not been so proactive and foolhardy. Yugi could hardly blame his other Self for the criminal setting himself on fire!

The only death he felt really sad about was his classmate, Imori. Yugi had pleaded with him not to remove the seal from that jar, but Imori had been so blinded by his greed that he had not listened.

Yugi had been left with no choice but to fight for his soul in a game he had no idea how to play! It was just fortunate that he was a fast learner and had two souls to wager!

Yugi could feel his other self pushing again – the spirit was getting angry with Bakura for forcing Yugi to relive these traumatic experiences, but Yugi remained calm. He knew that if he let his own emotions surface, the spirit would take over and threaten Bakura.

"I unwittingly put us in some dangerous situations," he stated, matter of factly. "I left the other Me with no other alternative. If anyone was hurt, then it is just as much my fault for relying on him too much."

"Yugi!" Anzu sighed sadly, placing a loving hand on his upper arm. "Neither of you have ever been at fault! You were brave to put yourself in so much danger to protect your friends." She frowned as she remembered how irresponsible she had been when she deliberately put herself in a dangerous situation at the theme park, just to bring out her 'mystery man' after learning he might be Yugi.

But he was her knight in shining armour, who had rescued her from a deranged murderer, so she was blinded by her crush on him.

All of a sudden, another memory was coming back to her. How could she have completely forgotten that he had also saved her from Kukorano?! The only thing she recalled from that event was the sexy voice saying 'let's play a game'.

Maybe those were the key words that made her forget?

All of a sudden, it was like a fog was lifting as the details came flooding back to her: She remembered being startled by Kukorano. He had wrapped his repulsive arms around her and groped at her breasts. She tried to fight him off but he stuffed a rag over her face that had made her feel strange and light headed. Everything went blurry and then moments before passing out, she heard the voice of her sexy man. She remembered nothing else until coming around on the soft grass underneath a tree in the school gardens, feeling sick. Yugi was sitting with her, holding her hand. He had said something about her fainting as they left the school to go to the mall for their date.

She suddenly gasped at the realisation that Yugi must have carried her all the way from the classroom, along the corridor, out through the doors and along the path that lead to the garden.

She blushed when her friends all looked at her.

"Is everything okay Anzu?" Yugi looked slightly puzzled by her sudden gasp.

"Oh!" She tried not to cringe. "Yes, I just remembered something that I had totally forgotten about."

"Oh, okay!" He responded innocently enough, but looked at her strangely.

Anzu remembered him saying, that before he knew about his other Self he had suffered lapses in his memories. Did he even remember that incident? He must, because he had also mentioned that he now remembered everything that had happened since solving the Puzzle.

She hesitated a moment, before asking: "Yugi?! Did the people who were involved in the Shadow Games with the other Yugi... lose their memories?"

Sensing Yugi was unsure about answering, Yami Yugi surfaced. This time, Yugi willingly let him take control. "The rules of a Shadow Game may vary according to the individual and the circumstances, but I have always thought it better to suppress the memories of those I involve. I think it is especially important that anyone who has been made to pay a 'penalty' does not remember anything, in order to protect us from reprisals."

"Well, that makes sense," Honda concluded. "Don't worry dude, your secrets are safe with us," he winked. "Same goes for you Bakura. We won't tell."

Ryou was grateful, but still did not think it would make any difference to the way his vicious alter ego would treat his friends. His Ring had a vendetta against Yugi's Puzzle, and as much as he liked Yugi, he did not think that he would do anything to try and stop his alter ego from seeking his much desired 'revenge' when the time came. The other Yugi might be confident in his ability to defeat the Ring now, but Ryou did not sense any fear from the Spirit of the Ring, only mocking indifference.

Warning Yugi of the danger to come was probably the right thing to do, but it was not in his interest to, so he should stay quiet.

"You are far too nice Ryou...That evil spirit doesn't deserve someone like you," he heard Anzu saying. If only she knew the dark secrets he was hiding.

"Shh..Anzu!" Honda frowned at her. "We can't risk upsetting someone," he hissed quietly, through gritted teeth, as though it would prevent the spirit that resided in the Ring from hearing.

"I want him to hear," Anzu huffed indignantly. "Maybe it will teach him to treat Ryou better."

Ryou frowned sadly. "I appreciate your concern Anzu, but I'm afraid your concern is wasted. He already knows that I hate him, but he also knows that I will not escape him, nor him me. For some reason we are are drawn together and cannot part until our destiny has been played out. Yugi knows what I mean, don't you Yugi?"

Yami Yugi nodded "Yes, I think I do." He cupped the Puzzle in his hands and looked into it's eye searchingly. Who, why, where, how? All these questions burned deep within his soul, but he kept those thoughts compartmentalised and hidden, even from Yugi. But there would come a time...

He snapped himself out of it before arousing Yugi's suspicions. "Unfortunately, many things are still a mystery to me." The frustration of his dilemma made him frown.

"Bakura?!" Anzu suddenly asked. "Do you remember anything when the Ring takes over?" Given the things the other Bakura had done, she kind of hoped he did not.

"I usually suffer blackouts and memory loss..." Ryou looked pained. "Unless, of course, he decides that something is horrific and depraved enough that I should remember." The bitterness in his voice did not try to hide the fact that he had witnessed his body being used to do some terrible things. The implications of this in his tone made Anzu and Honda shudder. Yami Yugi showed no reaction. He had also been plucked from the darkness and knew about the horror a corrupted soul could inflict upon the living.

"Well, I think that Yugi's Puzzle is nowhere near as bad as the Ring," said Anzu, defensively. "Both Yugi's get on well, and they work together as a team. They protect each other and their friends. And the other Yugi has learned the difference between right and wrong... The other Bakura..." She was cut off by Ryou suddenly morphing into his alter ego.

"So, you think I am a demon do you girl? If I release Goro and his twinks, do you think you can forgive Me as willingly as you have the Spirit of the Puzzle?" He was careful not to give away that the spirit was a Pharaoh – just yet. He shot her a disarming grin, which given that his canines were sharp and glistening, was anything but reassuring. "After all, I am your friend. I wish you no harm." For now. He was fast learning that it was better to keep them on his side and fool them into being friendly and relaxed around him. The Millennium items would eventually come to him, or Yugi, and then he could reawaken his master, Lord Zorc.

"Would it be too much trouble if you could reverse the spell on Katsu, too?" Anzu asked, sweetly.

"You mean that foo... friend Jonouchi? I am afraid that it not possible. I am being honest with you when I say that I do not know how. It really is a one way spell."

Anzu opened her mouth to protest but Yami Yugi placed his hand on her shoulder and shook his head, mouthing "No."

Anzu acknowledged him with a minute shake of the head. Yugi was right that they should not question Bakura. It would probably only result in him tearing the cards that housed their school colleagues souls, killing them.

Bakura clamped his hands together and beamed. "But first! Are those noodles ready yet? I'm starving."

Anzu remembered that she had not even put them in the pan yet!

After cooking the noodles for Bakura and making a pot of tea, the friends sat and drank their tea, watching with amusement, as Bakura crammed beef ramen into his mouth like a wolf that had not been fed for a week. Once he had finished slurping, he belched and wiped his arm across his chin to remove the sauce that had dribbled onto his chin and then licked it.

He then got up and marched into the bathroom. As soon as his back was turned, Anzu pulled a disgusted face. Yugi and Honda had to suppress snickers. His eating habits were worse than Jonouchi's!

::::::::::::

Left alone all day in Anzu's house all day was no less boring than the last time Katsu had been too upset and nervous to even go outside. If she was Jonouchi, she would give herself a kick up the backside.

But, hey! She was Jonouchi, wasn't she?

She was starting to fear that maybe Bakura had lied when he said the spell would eventually wear off on its own. If anything, it felt like it was strengthening its hold. Because, with each day that passed, she was starting to feel further and further detached from her male identity. It almost felt as if the parts of her mind that once made Jonouchi unique, were slowly fading away into mere memories.

What if Jonouchi never came back? Would that be such a bad thing? After all, what had he ever managed to achieve? Sure, he tried hard, but always failed at most things he attempted. The only thing he had ever been good at was fighting. His biggest achievement was getting himself a criminal record!

Sure, he had found an alternative outlet in Duel Monsters. But he was still pretty useless at it, and had only ever won through to the semi final at Duelist Kingdom by dumb luck!

Maybe Katsu was a fresh start. She was well aware how attractive was! As far as she knew, she was the only girl who had ever had moneybags drooling over her.

She jumped when her phone buzzed. She picked it up. Speaking of moneybags – what did he want?

At first, she was tempted to ignore it, but at the last moment hit the green telephone receiver on the keypad. "Hey Kaiba!" On the other end of the line, she heard him clearing his throat.

"Katsu! Apologies for not calling for a couple of days. I have been busy. How are you?" He almost felt embarrassed about asking her after the funny turn she had taken following their run. Women's issues were always a bit of a mystery to him.

"Yeah, about that... It's no biggy, so let's forget about it. I'm okay." She hoped and prayed that the only period she would ever have to suffer again was Mai or Anzu's PMT! Maybe Jonouchi would be sympathetic – probably not.

She heard him asking if she was free tomorrow evening?

As hard as she tried, Katsu could not think of any excuses. "Yes, I think so. Don't think Anzu has anything planned for after school." Come to think of it, shouldn't Anzu be home from school by now?

"My driver will pick you up at seven sharp. Don't eat before hand. My private chef will be cooking for us."

"Oh! Yea...h. Okay." Any doubts she had were overridden by the offer of free food.

"Goodbye then Katsu. See you tomorrow evening." He hung up before she could say anything else.

Groaning, Katsu sagged into the sofa and slapped her forehead. Why had she said yes?

An hour later, the front door opened and Anzu walked in to find Katsu curled up on the sofa, cuddling a cushion. "You okay? Not still suffering from your migraine, I hope?"

Katsu took a deep breath and sat up straight, letting it back out again in an exasperated sigh. "If you can call Kaiba a migraine, then yeah..."

"Why? What's he done now?"

Katsu huffed and let out a little laugh. "Invited me to dinner tomorrow night and I was stupid enough to say yes!"

Anzu rolled her eyes. If there was one thing that Katsu had in common with Jonouchi, it was that she would do anything – well almost – for free food.

"Did anything much happen at school?" Katsu asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah," she sighed. "It was pretty eventful!" "Bakura wasn't in and Goro and his friends are in the hospital, in comas. Guess who's responsible?"

Katsu looked horrified. "So that's why he sneaked away early? She asked, rhetorically. "To take them goons souls. Asshole!"

"Well, he's promised to released them. That's why I'm late home. We were worried about our Bakura so we went to see him. He was hiding in his apartment feeling guilty and frightened that someone may suspect him."

"Yeah, but what if Goro and his goons remember what happened?"

"He assures us they won't. It's got something to do with the magic of the Millennium items."

Katsu pouted. "Does that mean everyone will forget what happened to me?"

Anzu frowned. She still did not fully understand how it worked herself! So explaining to Katsu was not easy. "I don't know. Yugi said something about Millennium items giving the chosen wearer the power to conduct Shadow Games. If the winner of the game wishes to erase the memory of what happened, then he can take away the losers memories."

Katsu nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, like when Yugi crushed Kaiba's mind! He doesn't seem to remember any of the lessons Yugi taught him and still goes round pretending to be better than everyone else!"

The comment made Anzu laugh. "You're the one dating him! Anyway, he's not quite as bad as he was. At least he's looking after Mokuba properly now. I always felt sorry for Mokuba – he's such a sweet kid."

"Sweet?!" Katsu snorted with laughter. "He was as just as bad! We never told you this, but Mokuba kidnapped Yugi at gunpoint and threatened to cut his finger off if he didn't play Cap Mon! Yugi beat him and gave him a Penalty. Little shit still didn't change his ways. Right before Death-T, he locked us in the mansion and tried to impress Kaiba by giving me a poison meal! If Yugi hadn't won his stupid eating game and got me the antidote, I would have died."

Anzu looked shocked, but jokingly said, "And you still want to go for a meal there tomorrow night?!" The irony of which was lost on Katsu, who looked at her in confusion.

It was free food! Why wouldn't she want to go and eat the finest cuisine that money could buy? She could easily handle moneybags.

::::::::::::

The following evening, as promised the car pulled up at seven pm sharp. Katsu was not nervous this time. She had already been for a meal with him and had not disgraced herself by demonstrating the same lack of social etiquette as Jonouchi often did.

"Well, see ya later Anzu! Promise I won't be late," she grinned.

Anzu had become so used to Katsu now that it did not even cross her mind that she was Jonouchi as she gave her a hug, kissed her cheek and wished her luck.

Katsu returned her hug and gave her a little peck on the cheek, trying not to deposit lipstick on her friend's face. Not one single lewd thought ran through her mind as they embraced. It just felt the natural thing for two female friends to do when wishing each other good luck or giving comfort.

When she got into the car, she half expected Kaiba to be inside, waiting for her, but was a little surprised to see that she was alone in the back of the silver blue Rolls Royce.

The driver said nothing as he drove her to the mansion and Katsu found herself fidgeting with the gadgets in the back. Wonder what this does? She pressed a button and found her eardrums being assaulted by some very loud Tchaikovsky – not that she knew who it was. To her it was just noisy screeching of instruments she couldn't name – not exactly the thumping rock music of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath that Jonouchi's father always played.

Reaching for the knob, she turned it down so that it was just background music and decided that it was not quite as bad as she initially thought. Didn't people consider orchestral music cultured?

Yeah, I'm cultured. She smiled to herself as she sunk into the rich, soft white leather seat.

In no time at all, they reached the mansion. She climbed out of the limo as gracefully as she could and then scrunched awkwardly across the gravel driveway in her heels – how the hell did you walk on this stuff in heels?

She was greeted at the door by the new butler and given a pair of soft cotton indoor shoes - that were far more comfortable than her toe crunching, ankle twisting stilettos - and shown into the drawing room where she was offered a glass of sherry.

Intrigued by the beverage, she took the dainty crystal glass and sniffed the thick, golden brown liquid. It smelled mouth watering. She took a delicate sip and was pleasantly surprised at the warm, syrupy and yet dry texture of the drink. The hint of spice and oak was nice. This stuff must have cost a fortune in comparison to the cheap booze that Jonouchi's father guzzled.

"Good evening Katsu." She turned to see Seto Kaiba entering the room. He was dressed casually in a pair of denim jeans and a black, long sleeved silk shirt. The cuffs were fastened at the wrist but the top button of the shirt was open, making him appear relaxed.

She almost burst out laughing when she looked down and saw the pale blue slippers on his feet, with a little motif of the Blue Eyes White Dragon on each of them.

He spotted her smirk and glanced down, wriggling his toes. "Don't laugh! Mokuba bought them for me. He would be hurt if I didn't wear them." He accepted the glass of sherry from his butler.

"They're okay," said Katsu. She would love a pair of Black Eyes Red Dragon slippers. "Where did Mokuba get them? I'm thinking of getting some Red Eyes ones for my cousin."

"I think he had them specially made. I will ask."

Conversation faltered a little as they both stood facing each other, awkwardly sipping their drinks.

"This is nice!" Katsu suddenly blurted, blushing at her own loudness.

At first, Seto did not realise that she was referring to the sherry and looked confused. "Oh!" He said, realising, "It's just a standard Amontillado; dry and perfect as an aperitif."

"Huh!" Katsu pouted at him blankly. She had no idea what he was talking about. "Yeah, makes my mouth water," she said, dumbly.

"Exactly what it's supposed to do," he smiled.

Relieved that she must have managed to sound slightly less than ignorant, she smiled back smugly.

The new butler entered and bowed. "Mister Kaiba. Madam! Your table is ready when you are."

"Thank you Hamano." Seto gestured for Katsu to go through a set of double doors that lead to Seto's private dining room. The large dining table had been pushed against the wall and a more intimate, round table set up for them. Seto explained that they usually only used the large table, and joked that he and Mokuba had to shout from opposite ends of the table when they wanted to talk.

The small table was far more appropriate for an intimate dinner for two. The lights had been dimmed a little and a candle gently flickered in the centre of the table. There was a bucket of ice on a stand next to the table, containing a bottle of Champagne.

Katsu swallowed apprehensively as she sat down. As she did so, she noticed that a menu had been printed and placed on the table for her perusal. "Ooh! This looks tasty!" She grinned, picking it up.

Seto gave her a lopsided smirk. "That is not edible! It's the menu."

"Huh?!" She didn't quite catch the sarcastic joke. But as she lowered the menu to look at him, she accidentally allowed it to hover over the candle. The flame quickly caught the thin card alight. "Argh! Fire! Fire!" She started flapping the menu about, which only served to fan the flames and make the menu burn quicker.

Pulling herself together, she plunged the burning menu into the ice bucket to put it out. She grimaced sheepishly at Seto and at Hamano, who were both glaring at her, looking less than impressed.

"Sorry..." she cringed

"No need to apologise," Seto responded. She was lucky that he had feelings for her and was in a good mood. Anyone else, and there would be hell to pay! "It was entertaining to say the least."

Hamano cleared his throat. "Shall I serve the champagne now Sir?"

"Yes! Go ahead," Sedo gave a brief nod of his head.

Hamano opened the bottle and poured them both a glass, before leaving them alone together at the far too intimate table.

"Sorry about the menu," said Katsu, again.

Seto waved her off. "If you apologise again, then I will get annoyed."

"Yeah... it's not like I wanted to know what was for dinner anyway," she shrugged.

They sat in awkward silence for a moment, before Seto, sensing her awkwardness over it, moved the conversation away from the incident with the menu. "I was not sure you would come after what happened the other evening," he admitted.

"Neither was I," Katsu replied without thinking. But at least the remark got an amused snort.

"Well, here's to a fresh start between us!" Seto raised his glass slightly. Katsu figured she should mimic the action.

"Cheers!" She forgot herself for a moment and chugged the champagne in one go. Jeez! She was really making an idiot of herself tonight.

If she thought for one moment that it might put him off, she was wrong; it was what he liked about her – no false pretenses.

A plate of Izakaya appetisers was brought in and placed on the table: Consisting of spicy edamame, teba shio (salted chicken wings), Renkon chips (fried lotus root), Agedashi Tofu, some marinated cucumber and some dipping sauce for the chicken wings.

It turned out that Kaiba was a bit of a picker and it took all of Katsu's willpower not to just pile her plate up and scoff the lot!

She could not afford to make any more idiotic slip ups...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I will leave them halfway through their evening, before Katsu does indeed slip up further and give her real identity away.  
> See you next chapter.


	15. Help!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katsu goes to the Kaiba Mansion for her romantic meal with Seto.  
> Yugi and Anzu are worried about her doing something she might regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow! We're getting through this story. Another six, maybe seven to go. I had better start working a bit faster to finish my next story.
> 
> Warnings for this chapter: Some gross references to bodily functions, but that's about it.

Seto Kaiba never ate deserts. Instead, he usually finished a meal with sweetened black coffee.

But he did offer Katsu desert and she opted for the parfait. Since parfait was one of Mokuba's favourites, the chef knew how to make a really awesome one; with syrup soaked sponge, fresh seasonal fruits, ice cream, and lashings of whipped cream, liberally topped with a freshly made chocolate sauce flavoured with matcha green tea.

The desert would never have defeated Jonouchi, but halfway through Katsu was fit to burst, and feeling very bloated and uncomfortable. Reluctantly, she was forced to put her spoon down and sit back in her chair to try and aid her digestion.

Being full was still an alien feeling. It was uncomfortable and something that she did not like. Trying not to eat the same vast quantity of food in one sitting that Jonouchi had always been able to shovel into his gob, was a challenge, and one that she had yet to master.

Her dress felt extremely tight, and without taking it off there was no way to lessen the pressure on her tummy.

Seto was quick to notice the way she was sitting uncomfortably in her chair, with a rather bilious and flushed face. He knew that look from the few times that Mokuba had over indulged and then vomited. He did not fancy having to deal with Katsu doing the same thing. "I think we should take a stroll around the garden to walk off our meal." Trying not to smirk too much, he concentrated on his coffee.

Feeling in need of some fresh air, Katsu readily agreed that a walk was a nice idea.

The garden was most welcoming. The evening air was clean and the breeze was soft and cooling, carrying with it the gentle perfume of chrysanthemum and jasmine.

Katsu soon found herself fighting the urge to belch, but her attempt to stop herself letting rip was unsuccessful. Her esophagus constricted uncomfortably and her tummy let out a loud rumbling sound as the belch escaped upwards and out of her mouth.

To her surprise, Seto laughed at her. "Go on, let it all out."

"What?!" Katsu's eyes widened. "I thought you would think I was disgusting!"

"Why should I? Mokuba always gets wind after he eats too much. I always tell him it's better out than in. You will feel less uncomfortable once it shifts."

Katsu made an embarrassed chuckling sound. Would he think the same if she let out the fart she was also holding?

Luckily, Seto walked over to a rose bush and plucked a bloom from the stem, carefully, so as not to prick himself on the thorns.

Katsu was also careful about letting her gas go as quietly as she could. Unfortunately, it came out as a long raspberry pfa...rrrp! Jonouchi would have been proud of that one, but as Katsu, she was just plain embarrassed.

If Seto heard it, he didn't say anything. It smelled pretty bad too, so Katsu hurried away from where she was standing, over to the ornamental pond.

Thankfully, the odour did not seem to follow her.

Sitting down on the edge of the pond, she peered into the darkened water and rippled her fingers on the surface to see if there were any fish. Several Koi Carp immediately brushed the surface, their mouths wide open in search of food.

"They haven't been fed yet this evening. Mokuba, or sometimes myself, if I'm here, usually do it around seven thirty." He lifted up the lid on the nearby bench seat and took out a plastic tub of fish food. "Here, you do it. Two handfuls should be enough."

Nodding, Katsu stood up and scooped out one handful. She swept her hand over the pond to evenly spread the food, and then repeated the action with a second handful. The fish immediately lunged for the food, making ripples and splashes as they did so. Seto, put the lid back on the food and placed it down.

He then picked up the single white rose that he had picked a few moments ago and stood beside her.

They stood in silence for a minute, watching the fish thrashing about in their feeding frenzy.

Soon, the feeding fish settled back down again and Katsu tensed as she felt his arm slip around her waist. She fixed her nervous stare on where the feeding fish had just been, and clutched her arms over her chest to protect herself.

"Here, I picked this for you." He held the rose out in front of her. "Be careful. I think I picked off all the thorns but I may have missed one."

"Thanks!" She almost squeaked and tried not to snatch it from him. Shit! How did she get out of this situation without decking him?!

She nearly squirmed when he leaned down and nuzzled her hair. "You know, you don't have to go home tonight," he whispered softly in her ear.

"Oh! I do!" She shrieked, stepping sideways, away from him. "Anzu has plans for tomorrow."

He looked slightly crestfallen, which was an amusing look on Seto Kaiba, but he kept his hand on the small of her back and moved with her. "You seem nervous. Do you have a problem with me?"

At this point, she should have said 'yes' but instead bit her lip and looked bashful. She no longer found herself thinking or feeling like Jonouchi. She was genuinely attracted to Seto Kaiba and his offer was tempting – wasn't Jonouchi keen to lose his virginity?

But this was all wrong. Jonouchi was as straight as an arrow.

However, Katsu was straight too; which meant that she found men attractive – particularly rich, tall, lean muscular men with shaggy brown hair and sparkling, assertive blue eyes!

She nearly screamed out loud at her crazy, mixed up situation, but managed to calm herself enough to mutter coyly. "I'm... not sure I'm ready yet."

Instead of calling her a frigid, gold digging time waster like she thought he might, he smiled lovingly. "I am sorry if I made you feel awkward. If you are not yet ready, I understand. You are still welcome to stay the night in a guest room. It would be nice to have your company over breakfast in the morning."

Katsu almost spat her teeth out! How the hell she remained calm, she would never know. Unsure of how to get out of her current situation, she found herself agreeing to stay in the spare room.

"I need to let Anzu know I'm not coming home," she informed him, pulling out her phone.

Seto rolled his eyes, but didn't voice his thoughts about Katsu worrying so much about the opinion of Yugi's bossy cheerleader.

::::::::::::

When Anzu received a text message from Katsu telling her not to worry, but... she would not be home tonight, she nearly dropped her phone. No way! She wasn't...?

All sorts of thoughts about her in bed with Seto Kaiba went through her mind and she found herself feeling sick.

Trying to compose herself, she shakily sent a message back advising Katsu to think very carefully about the implications of what she was about to do. She waited a few moments but did not get a reply.

Anzu wanted to believe that Katsu had enough common sense not to go through with what she thought she was about to do. But! If she was as hot headed and impulsive as Jonouchi...

Should she let Yugi know about the mistake his best friend was about to make? Probably better not to worry him, but... right now, all she needed to hear Yugi's calming voice of reason. Groaning, she hit dial.

Yugi was in his room playing Fall Out 4 when his phone rang. It was sitting on his desk within easy reach, and he reached out a hand and swiped his finger across the screen to answer it. "Hey Anzu! What's up?" He quickly put it on speaker so that he could continue his game while talking.

"It's nothing... I just wanted to talk, that's all."

"Okay... Is Katsu back yet? Shit...!" He swore at a mutant that had just ambushed him.

Anzu was shocked at his language and irritated that she only had half of his attention. "Yugi! What are you doing?"

"Oh! Erm... sorry! Fall Out 4. Crucial stage." The huffing noise on the other end told him that she was not amused.

"That horrible violent game? Ugh! I don't know why you play such trash."

"I think we had better quit the game, Aibou," His other self advised. Yugi nodded in agreement.

"I will turn it off," he said, sheepishly. He hated upsetting Anzu.

Quitting the game, he picked up his phone. "Is something wrong Anzu?"

"It's nothing," she sighed. There was a pause. She knew he suspected something. "I er... I wasn't sure if I should tell you or not. Katsu isn't home. She's staying at Kaiba's."

Yugi felt his stomach lurch at the thought. "No way! As in like, with Kaiba?" He gulped down the lump in his throat that was threatening to choke him. What if his friend made a terrible mistake?

"I don't know if that's what she's doing..." She fretted, "What if..? I don't know what to do." She hoped he might have a suggestion.

"We have to stop her!" He shouted, banging his fist on the table angrily. Yami Yugi hovered at his shoulder in ghost form, looking similarly incensed.

Yugi sounded really upset and Anzu suddenly regretted calling him. "No..! At least, I hope not." There was an awkward pause.

"Katsu would never do something like that!" Yugi stated forcefully. "Deep inside, she is still Jonouchi." He could never entertain the thought that the real Jonouchi would disappear so completely that Katsu would fall in love with, of all people, Seto Kaiba.

"Even so Yugi, it is possible that she might. She admitted to me that she likes him and finds him attractive. She is trying to hang on to the small threads of Jonouchi that still remain, but she is becoming more female with each day. I'm with her more than you are and I have noticed how she is changing. I'm worried that she will..." unable to finish her sentence, she tailed off.

Even though he knew she could not see him, Yugi grimaced and shook his head. No! It wouldn't happen, it couldn't happen. "We have to stop them. I will ring Jonou... I mean Katsu and remind her who she actually is."

"No! Yugi! You can't! What if Kaiba is with her? He will know it's you calling and get suspicious. Even worse, he might find out!"

"Can you call her then? It won't seem as bad if it's you."

"I know it's hard Yugi, but we're just going to have to trust her." Anzu let out a sigh. "I just needed to speak to you. I need to know if I you think I should ring her?"

Just then, Anzu's phone beeped to notify her she had another message. "Oh! Hang on a minute Yugi. I have another message from her."

Reading the message, she felt a sense of relief. It appeared that Katsu was not sleeping in the same room as Seto kaiba, after all.

"This is what she has just sent me, Yugi." She read the message out too him. "Don't worry Anzu. I ain't that stupid! I'm sleeping in the spare room."

Anzu waited for Yugi's response.

"I believe her. So does the other Me," said Yugi, confidently.

Anzu let out a sigh of relief. "She had me worried there for a bit. But, yes, I believe her as well. What do you think we should do?"

Yugi thought about it only briefly. "Message her back and suggest we all meet up at ten in the morning for a day out. That way, we can get her away from him before things get any worse. Can you let me know when she replies?" He was anxious. He knew he would not be able to sleep until Anzu got back to him to confirm that she would meet up with them in the morning.

"I think I will ring her," Anzu decided. "That way, I will be able to know for sure that she is not with him in the same room."

::::::::::

When Kaiba showed Katsu to the guest room, she quickly realised that it was the very same room that Jonouchi had woken up in after being poisoned by Mokuba. She wondered if he had known what his younger brother was up to, or if he just did not care enough to be bothered; after all, the relationship between the brothers was pretty broken at the time. Mokuba had lacked any sort of parental guidance and was more or less left to become feral. She understood how much that sucked, because Jonouchi had been left behind with his father when his mother walked out. His father was already a heavy drinker, but his mental state seemed to deteriorate after she left, to the point where he no longer cared about his son, and just spent his days in a drunken stupor.

Witnessing his father's decline had been stressful. Jonouchi had to look after him. Sometimes it was like looking after a baby and sometimes it was like looking after a wild animal. Young Jonouchi was often punched and shouted at – even spat at.

Younger Jonouchi became distressed. He felt abandoned and lost. Craving some attention, he misbehaved at school. His behaviour lead to him hooking up with Hirutani and joining his vicious gang. He discovered how good he was at fighting, and that got him the attention he desired.

In his own way, Mokuba had only been doing the same thing. But it still did not make what he had done acceptable.

She hesitated in the doorway, as she recalled how Jonouchi had woken up on that bed feeling like shit and with a bitter, chemical after-taste in his mouth. It had taken a long hot shower and copious amounts of the complimentary mouthwash and toothpaste to rid herself of the taste and feel human again.

"Is the room okay?" Seto asked, gently rubbing his hand over the small of her back. "Only, you seem unsure."

"Yes! It's lovely. I was just thinking... it's way bigger than my room at home," she replied, coming up with a quick excuse for her hesitation.

"Good! I plan to rise at six forty five tomorrow morning. I will spend an hour in my private gym, and then swim and shower before breakfast, which will be at eight thirty sharp."

Katsu laughed. "Do you always like to do everything to a strict time?"

"I'm a busy man. I like to organise my day so that no time is wasted on unnecessary waiting about."

"I'm the opposite. I like to roll with the flow."

"Then I'm sure you will be happy to roll with my flow," he smirked. "If you feel like joining me in the gym, be outside your room at six fifty four. It takes exactly five minutes to reach my gym from here."

"I don't have any gear to exercise in! I can't exactly run in this." She looked down at the stilettos in her hand and the pretty blue dress she was wearing.

"What size shoes do you take? I will ensure my housekeeper brings you an outfit." He raised an eyebrow when Katsu told him. She had pretty big feet for a girl!

They were still smiling in amusement about Katsu's large feet, and it caught her off guard when he leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. It wasn't a lingering kiss, more of an expectant, hopeful peck on the lips, but Katsu still froze. What was she supposed to do? By the way he was hovering and looking into her eyes, she suspected that he was hoping she might return the kiss and allow him to prolong it.

"Er... night Seto!" She regained her composure in an instant, and before he could say anything else, she had leaped into the room and slammed the door in his face.

Jumping back to avoid a broken nose from the door hitting him, Seto shook his head in bemusement. What a funny thing she was! On the two previous occasions he had invited women to have dinner with him, they had been so eager to sleep with him, that they had literally thrown themselves at him. But finding one that played hard to get was making the chase far more exciting.

Katsu locked the door, although, she suspected that if he wanted to get in, he would easily do so, because he probably had a master key!

Slumping on the bed, she sighed and touched her lips. Seto kaiba's lips had touched hers! She knew she should feel utterly repulsed by it. If she were Jonouchi, she would have been in the bathroom scrubbing her face by now. But she wasn't. Instead, she found herself thinking how gentle and soft his lips had been. His cologne had smelled nice. A knot of disgust coiled in her belly when she found herself wishing that she had prolonged the kiss.

Her phone rang and when she took it out of her clutch bag she noticed her hands were trembling. It was Anzu. Katsu rolled her eyes. Anzu was probably ringing to make sure she was not misbehaving with Kaiba.

After reassuring Anzu, and warning her not to say anything about her staying the night at the mansion to Yugi or Honda, she got ready for bed. No point in telling Anzu how he had kissed her and how close she had come to locking lips with him.

Feeling reassured, Anzu hung up and immediately called Yugi again, to give him the news that his friend was not doing anything they needed to be concerned about.

::::::::::::

Katsu was woken up at six forty, by a maid bringing her a pair of sports leggings, a bra-top, a pair of ankle socks and trainers – all a perfect fit!

So much for Kaiba giving her the choice of whether to stay in bed until eight thirty, or get up early for a workout! It was a good job that because of the paper round, she had always been used to getting up bright and early.

Thanking the maid, she pulled on the kit, and quickly brushed her teeth and rinsed the smudges of make-up off her face. She would never get used to having to scrape this stuff off her face before going to bed. Getting it off was a total pain unless you had some sort of make up remover, and scrubbing her face with soap and water made her skin feel tight and dry. She just wished she had some of that nice moisturising face cream that Anzu had given her!

Right now, the only thing she had to hand was the complimentary hand cream, so that would have to do – it couldn't be all that different to face cream, could it?

She plastered it onto her face and soon found out that it made the sensitive skin on her face sting, and when she looked in the mirror, her face looked greasy and shiny.

Oh God! She was a disaster! She could not let Seto see her looking like this! She looked like Frankenstein's bride!

A light knock on her door, indicated that Seto was here for her. Panic! Panic!

Grabbing the hand towel, she dabbed at her face as she answered the door. With any luck, he would not notice, and once she started exercising, a shiny red face would seem normal. Why did she even care what she looked like, anyway?

"Good morning!" He yawned, while trying to appear wide awake and ready. He still had bed hair and it made him look cute. He looked so far removed from the aloof, perfectly well groomed asshole that she and her friends had frequently encountered.

She liked this softer, much more relaxed side of him, a lot!

To hell with what her friends thought about her dating him! She was a woman, he was a man; what was wrong with them being an item, if that was what they wanted?

The more natural it felt to be a woman, the more natural it felt to date him. And she was achieving far more success with the opposite sex than Jonouchi ever had! All he ever did was make girls cry and run away.

"Mornin!" She beamed. "Ready to hit the gym then? Sleepy head!"

Chuckling, he tipped his head forward and combed his finger tips through his hair, before shaking his head and standing up straight again. "Better?!" It was worse.

Laughing, Katsu reached up and flicked her fingers through his fringe. She was surprised at how silky his hair felt. Pushing his hair to the side, she looked into his baby blue eyes and smiled. "Much better."

Taking her by the hand, he lead her to the elevator that went down to the spacious, lower ground floor.

From the front of the mansion, you would never even know that this lower level was here!

Stepping out of the elevator, Katsu was amazed by the sight that greeted them. The gym was divided into two halves, with a mirror along the wall on the area to the right of them, where a bench press and a rack of dumbells were situated. There were also some Yoga mats laid out, a water fountain and a small dance floor, with a punch bag hanging from a hook on the celing. On the other side, stood two treadmills, two ski trainers and two rowing machines. They were lined up facing out through the large windows, that overlooked the swimming pool.

Katsu ran up to the glass doors and looked out at the pool. "Wow! You own all this cool stuff?!" Jonouchi could not even afford a gym membership and had begged his way into a scruffy boxing gym, with its ancient, rusty, sweat covered equipment. Kaiba's stuff was all the latest technology.

"The door to the pool is actually from the sauna," he explained. "Because of the air conditioning, these bullet proof windows cannot be opened."

"Oh!" Katsu nodded dumbly. In her opinion, it would have been nice to slide them open for direct access to the pool. "Bullet proof?!"

"That's right. My stepfather had them installed." Not wishing to dwell on his cruel stepfather, he cleared his throat. "You get to the pool through here." He took her through a door leading to the pool. He also showed her the Tyrolean style sauna, shower room and traditional Furo.

They went back inside and Seto got onto the stepper to begin his warm up. Katsu climbed onto the other stepper.

She had never used one of these machines before so it was a bit of a novelty, but she very quickly got into it and was soon glancing across at Seto's machine to check how many watts he was putting out, and how quickly he was climbing. She upped her pace.

"Are you challenging me?" He smirked.

"Yeah," she beamed. "Whoever climbs the most steps in ten minutes wins." She was confident she would be able to beat him. He was pretty certain that she would not.

"Very well! We will re-set our machines and begin on the count of three."

"What does the winner get?" She asked, preparing herself for battle.

"If I win, I get a better kiss than the one I got last night," he winked. She had never seen Seto Kaiba wink and it should have been disturbing, but for some reason she found it sexy.

"What if I win?" She asked.

"You won't," he calmly stated.

Even though he was certain of his victory, she still made him promise to give her a lift to meet her friends, at ten o'clock. Knowing that he would not have to, he agreed.

Their little race started. But, try as hard as she could, Katsu was unable to out climb him on the stepper. It looked like Seto was going to get his kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just in case you have not heard of it, a Furo is a traditional Japanese bath.


	16. Facing Prejudice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katsu faces up to her romantic feelings towards Seto kaiba. Unfortunately, admitting her feelings brings her into conflict with her Yugi and Anzu.  
> How will they deal with the turmoil that is going on inside their friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Mentions of adult activities and some swearing. Apart from that, enjoy!

Hitting the pause button on their machines, they studied the number of steps climbed, the distance, watts and calories burned, displayed on the screens of the steppers.

Katsu could not understand how the heck he could have beaten her so comprehensively!

He gave her a lopsided smile. "Looks like I get my kiss." He never imagined she would be able to beat him anyway and had considered it a foregone conclusion. She could play hard to get all she liked, Seto kaiba always got what he wanted in the end.

He jumped off the machine and held his hand out to her, but she slapped his hand away.

"You want to kiss here?!" Her insides felt a bit weak at the thought. But as much as she would like to kiss him, she could not submit to her own desires for Jonouchi's sake. "The gym is not exactly the..."

Her excuse was cut short when he playfully put his arms around her waist and attempted to lift her off the stepper. She let out a little squeak of surprise and held onto the hand rails as tightly as she could. "What are you doing?! I can get off this thing by myself!"

He let go of her and stepped back. "What's wrong with you woman? I know I have a reputation for ruthlessness, but I'm not a fucking rapist!"

Katsu could see that he was getting a little irritated with her constantly pushing him away and realised she had two choices: kiss him! Or, tell him that she did not fancy him and that she was dumping him.

The latter was something she had initially planned to do after their first date. She had wanted to reel him in, watch him flap on the end of her line, and then dump and humiliate him. But now... ? She did not know if she could make herself do that to him.

It dawned on her that she was the one who had been caught, and she even found herself wanting him! The dilemma facing her made her want to scream.

Would kissing him be that bad? If this was a shadow spell, then maybe Jonouchi would not remember anything from his time as a woman anyway. She could only hope.

Nervously, she shimmied closer and looked up into his eyes. "This is my first proper kiss! That's why I'm nervous."

He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. "Don't worry. I won't eat you. Place your hands on my shoulders and close your eyes," he instructed.

Her knees were almost knocking together as she scrunched her eyes up and pursed her lips.

But the kiss never came.

Instead, the door to the gym banged open and Mokuba's noisy voice called out. "Hey! Seto! Are you in here?" He came bounding over, oblivious to what was about to happen.

Seto quickly let go of her and turned to face his younger brother with an irritated expression. "Great timing Mokuba!"

"Oh! You're both in here! What were you doing holding her? Is she ill?" Why was his big brother glaring at him? "Oh...!"

Realising he may have disturbed something, a blush crept across his face and he grinned at them sheepishly. "Anzu's on the phone." He held the phone out. "She's asking for Katsu."

Seto scowled and snatched the phone from Mokuba. "How did you get this number?" He snapped tersely.

Anzu was not intimidated by his tone and responded briskly. "You gave it to Yugi, remember?! I have been trying to ring Katsu's phone but she's not answering."

"I thought I told Yugi not to give this number to anyone!" He snarled, in a tone that reminded Katsu of the Seto Kaiba she had always been more familiar with. Had she seriously been about to kiss him?

Her hackles immediately rose and she plucked the phone out of his hand before he could make any more cutting remarks or cut the call off. "Hey! Don't talk to Anzu like that! She's a friend." She gave him a annoyed look and turned her back on him as she spoke. "Hello Anzu!"

Taking a deep breath, Seto folded his arms and glared at her in annoyance. However, he did not do or say anything about the way Katsu had just admonished him.

Mokuba stood and gawked at his brother in surprise. Had Seto just let her get the better of him? He could not remember the last time Seto allowed someone else to have the final word and it made Mokobu feel uneasy, maybe even a little threatened. Would she be after his brother's money next? Seto had always told Mokuba to be wary of letting his guard down and to choose his friends carefully. Seto had also told him that it was never wise to spend money on a woman because they were all gold diggers.

Was it possible that Seto could be throwing his own advice out of the window because he was falling in love?

The strange way his younger brother was looking at him, made the usually ice cool Seto flinch slightly. "Is something wrong Mokuba?"

"No! I.. It's just.." If Seto was in love, would that mean he would spend even less time with Mokuba than he already did? "Will we be having breakfast together this morning? I was hoping we could do something fun together today."

"Sorry! I will be breakfasting with Katsu and then I have to take her home before going into the office."

"But Seto...!" Mokuba looked at the ground with a sulky pout. "I thought things were changing since Pegasus' Island, but..." He knew how to sulk and get his own way. So, he put on the best display he could muster, and with a loud sniff hung his head, turned and shuffled out.

"Mokuba!" Seto snapped, rather more sternly than he had intended. His tone made Katsu intervene. How many times had she and her friends seen Seto Kaiba treat Mokuba with disdain? Sure, the kid had been a horrible little brat when they first encountered him. But who could blame him when his big brother was so cold and emotionally retarded! The poor kid had only challenged Yugi and subsequently poisoned Jonouchi, in order to gain the attention of Seto and impress him.

But it had all backfired. Instead of praise, his actions had actually angered Seto. And when he had failed to beat Yugi, Kaiba had punished the poor kid rather severely.

The turning point in Mokuba's life had been when Yugi had shown him some kindness and saved him from the terrifying ordeal his older brother had inflicted on him for losing to the Capsule Monsters game to Yugi.

And yet, somehow, through it all, Mokuba still loved Seto more than anything else in the world.

Katsu wondered what the relationship between the two brothers might be like today, had Yugi not 'mind crushed' Seto that day!

"Hey! Why don't the three of us have breakfast together?" She suggested.

Mokuba immediately stopped snivelling and turned around, grinning. "Yeah! Cool! I will ask Mitsuki to make pancakes."

"With tons of chocolate sauce!" Katsu called out.

Mokuba gave her the thumbs up and ran off to tell the staff to start preparing breakfast.

Seto rolled his eyes. Thanks to Katsu, he had been rescued from the awkward situation of having to appease Mokuba. As much as he tried, he could never get this parenting thing right.

He turned to Katsu, who was looking a bit too pleased with herself. "What did the Mazaki girl want?"

"Oh! She was just checking on me. Making sure I survived the night, and to remind me we're all meeting up at ten. I told her I would come home first."

Seto huffed. "She probably thinks I'm the sort of monster who would force myself on you," he growled.

Katsu sensed that he was slightly offended at the idea that Yugi's friends still thought so lowly of him. It seemed that the frosty CEO did care what people thought of him, after all!

::::::::::::

By the time they had finished breakfast, Mokuba had cheered up no end. He had decided that he liked Katsu. She reminded him an awful lot of Jonouchi, but without the tendency to wind his big brother up. The genes for certain family traits must run strong, but thankfully not the irritating ones. And Katsu did not strike him as the sort of girl who would try to get her hands on their business or steal their fortune.

"I should be getting home so I can change my clothes," Katsu told them. "Not sure I wanna hang out in the bowling alley wearing this!" They trio laughed at the idea of her bowling in her dress.

"I will call my driver and we can drop you off on my way to the office," Seto offered.

"Can I come with you Seto?" Mokuba asked, expectantly. "Only, I don't want to hang out here all on my own."

Seto frowned. He had a video call to make and more tests to perform on the duel simulator system. Mokuba was supposed to have music lessons on a Saturday morning, but his tutor was away on holiday this week (he made a mental note to fire her) and Seto did not have any computer programming for Mokuba to do at the moment, so the boy would just be in the way.

"Why don't you hang out with us today Mokuba?" Katsu suggested. It was not until after she had asked that she realised the possible consequences should one of them slip up and call her Jonouchi in front of Mokuba. But she was now so relaxed in her female skin, that she was starting to forget that she had ever been any different.

Luckily, Mokuba declined. "Thanks for the offer Katsu, but nah... it's alright. You guys don't really want me tagging along." To be honest, as much as he liked Yugi and Anzu, he did not really feel comfortable socialising with them as friends. They were much older than him and he shared Seto's opinion of Jonouchi and could not see himself being friendly with him. He also did not really like Honda or Bakura all that much.

Besides, he wanted to go to the office with his brother today. He had an idea that would impress him.

"Please...Seto?" He whined. "I won't get in the way! I have some upgrades I want to do to the security system software, to prevent guys like Pegasus hacking us again. I will go and show the guys in IT how to implement the changes and leave you to do your own work." He looked at his big brother expectantly.

Seto knew that his younger brother was learning fast and was a far better computer programmer than he was at that age, so he agreed. He might even have time to show Mokuba how to operate the new duel server, so that he could be more involved with it's future development. "Okay... Just don't get under my feet," he sighed.

::::::::::::

When Katsu arrived home, Anzu and Yugi were there waiting for her. Both looked anxious. Were they still concerned about her dating Seto?

She wanted to tell them to stop being so over protective and to let her make her own choices about who she dated. But she knew that would just start an argument. They were over protective because they thought that inside, she was still Jonouchi.

She was trying her best to see it from their point of view, but needed to get it across to them that she was not Jonouchi; she was a person in her own right. She had thoughts and feelings all of her own that were nothing to do with Jonouchi.

In fact, she was actually starting to wish she could stay as Katsu for the rest of her life. It was unfair that in a couple of weeks, Jonouchi would be back; brash, hot headed and vulgar as ever, while she would be dead and gone.

Why was Yugi was looking at her so suspiciously? It was a funny look on him, but he looked like he wanted to punch someone! "What's wrong Yuge?" She tried to sound friendly and casual, but it came out way more defensive than she had wanted.

Yugi's eyebrows knotted accusingly. "Are you sure that Kaiba didn't try anything?" He demanded, over protectively.

Katsu looked at him with surprise. Maybe Anzu had not told him that she had slept in the spare room. "Relax Yugi! I slept in the same room as I did when Mokuba poisoned me! Remember that?" To lighten the situation, she laughed. Her friend was behaving more like a jealous boyfriend than her best friend!

"Of course I remember," Yugi scowled. "They tried to kill us! Have you any feelings for what Jonouchi is suffering?"

"Yugi?!" Anzu intervened by putting her arm around his shoulder. "Of course she understands, don't you Katsu?" Was Anzu accusing her too?!

"Will the pair of you just relax?! Kaiba's not like that any more. No one tried to poison me! And Kaiba can actually be real nice when he wants. He even picked me a flower in the garden last night."

"He did what?!" Yugi looked like he might grab her and shake her, as if it might help her come to her senses.

"You're not in love with him, are you?!" Anzu asked, sounding very suspicious.

Katsu's facial muscles twitched. "I... I'm not Jonouchi, right? I'm not the same personality as him. I'm ME! And I'm cool with that!" She felt saddened by the devastated looks on their faces.

"But... what about Jonouchi? You're still in there, right?" said Yugi, shakily. With each day that Katsu was here, a little bit more of Jonouchi seemed to disappear. Soon there would be nothing of him left. It was Yugi's worst fear come true and he wanted his best friend back, now! "You can't just pretend you're not Jonouchi!" He snapped.

Katsu was fast losing her patience with him. "Look! I'm gonna go and change, and when I come back, I want the pair of you to accept me for who I am!" She stomped past them and went up to her room.

Slamming the door, she struggled out of her dress and flopped down on the bed. She let out a muffled cry of frustration into her pillow. Why couldn't they just see that she was not Jonouchi, and accept her for who she was?

Downstairs, Yugi was mortified that Jonouchi was seemingly losing the battle to stay on control. He looked to Anzu for some comfort and support. "We have to do something to help Jonouchi to stay in control," he begged.

But while Anzu was worried, she was not at all surprised by what was happening.

Over the last two and a bit weeks, she had watched Jonouchi's personality change; from the typical teenage boy into the typical teenage girl. She felt caught in the middle of an impossible situation: for as much as she missed the old Jonouchi, she was also very good friends with Katsu. In fact, as a female, she had more in common with Katsu than she did with Jonouchi. "I'm sorry Yugi, but I don't think we should do anything to interfere. We might make things even worse."

Yugi was mortified. "How can we make things any worse?!" He gestured with his arms in frustration. "Jonouchi is losing to his female self! We have to stop Katsu from burying him so deeply in the darkness that his own soul might never be able to return!"

Anzu gasped at the revelation that he might be lost for ever. If his soul did disappear, then how much was she to blame for helping Katsu? "I'm sorry Yugi! What if it's my fault? I thought I was helping when I showed her how to be female."

Yugi took her hand and gave her a pitiful smile, "I'm not blaming you Anzu. You are doing a great job of looking after Katsu. But we are dealing with dark magic. Even the other Me doesn't know what is happening to Jonouchi's soul. What if things can't be entirely reversed?"

"You mean, like genetic changes?"

"I was thinking more psychological than physical, but I cannot be sure if the physical changes my damage him as well. The type of Shadow Magic Bakura uses is unpredictable. The other Me thinks that Jonouchi has been trying to stay in control, but has been forcefully sealed away. We think that Katsu is who Jonouchi would have been if he had been born as a girl." He frowned at the thought.

Anzu looked a little shaken at the idea that if Jonouchi had been born female, this was who he would be. "Does Jonouchi know what's going on?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But the other Me is worried that he knows what is going on but can't do anything about it."

Anzu bit on her bottom lip and frowned. "Poor Jonouchi," she shuddered. "What if he can sense everything that's happening when Katsu is with Kaiba?"

Yugi's posture stiffened. "But nothing has happened with Kaiba, has it?" He eyed Anzu suspiciously. "Unless..."

"Don't look at me like that Yugi! I know as much as you do! But I do believe her when she says that nothing is going to happen with him."

Upstairs in her room, Katsu had pulled herself together and managed to sling on a pair of leggings and a blouse. She hastily ran a brush through her hair and then decided to face her two friends and apologise for snapping at them. She wanted them to be her friends, not alienate herself from them.

She trotted downstairs in her bare feet and paused in the hallway when she heard her name mentioned. They were talking about her. She could hear Anzu speaking.

"So, do we just accept that she's telling the truth and hope that Jonouchi doesn't have any idea that she's still seeing him? What if... you know... Kaiba wants more?" She grimaced and pulled an unsavoury face.

The look on Yugi's face was one of horror. The very idea that his best friend would have sex with, of all people, Seto Kaiba, was almost too much for him to stomach.

But, Katsu was not Jonouchi, and if she liked Kaiba that much and wanted to keep seeing him, there was not much he could do about it, apart from tell kaiba who Katsu really was – and he would never do that!

He tried to choose his words carefully. "I know that Katsu has different needs than Jonouchi, and I don't want to stop her enjoying what little time she has to enjoy her life, but my main concern is Jonouchi. He is my best friend and I can't let her do... that stuff.. especially not with Kaiba."

Katsu could not help feel sad as she listened. Yugi was right when he said that she might not have much longer to live. Hadn't Bakura said that the spell would last for a month? If that was true, then she only had around ten more days to live! She also understood his concerns about Jonouchi. But he could at least show a little more respect towards her and trust in her judgement! Of course she wasn't about to go and have sex with Kaiba!

A small tear rolled down her cheek. To be given life in such strange and cruel circumstances, only to then have it snatched away again when you were just starting to like your new life was unimaginably painful and sad.

She found herself wishing that there was a way for her to stay and live separately from Jonouchi, in her own body. She knew her 'other Self' would never approve of her dating Seto, but at least she could continue seeing him without worrying that she was still part of Jonouchi.

But if Yami Bakura and the other Yugi could not have their own bodies, then there was probably no chance for her either. She had to accept that this was Jonouchi's life, not hers. But she also intended to do everything in her power to cherish what she had been given, and to make the most of her time here.

Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the room. Both Yugi and Anzu instantly stopped talking and looked at her sympathetically.

"It's okay. I don't need sympathy, but I do need you to treat me like a real person and not just some imposter who has replaced your best friend and is now fucking up his life. Because it's not like that at all!"

Unsure of how much Katsu had heard, Yugi fidgeted awkwardly. "I'm sorry, we didn't mean it like that! We just..." he trailed off and looked to Anzu for a better excuse.

Anzu stepped forward and took Katsu's hand. "We just don't want you to make a mistake and do something with Kaiba that you will regret. Remember, whatever happens between the two of you, Jonouchi will have to live with. You know how he and Kaiba feel about each other and it could make things awkward between all of us if you do become... too involved." Hoping that she did not sound like a parent lecturing a child, she smiled kindly.

"Go on, say it! Sex! You think I'm gonna have sex with him, don't you?"

Both of them went bright red. "N.. No! We..." Yugi began to make his excuse but Anzu silenced him with her honest answer.

"Yes, we do. That's why we're worried. I really like you Katsu; you have become my best female friend. Which is why I have to be honest: Kaiba is no good for you."

Katsu rolled her eyes at her. "Look! I know where you're coming from, and I'm glad we've become close friends. But I'm not stupid over Kaiba!" She tapped the side of her head. "I still have Jonouchi's memories in here! I remember every little detail of Death-T and Duelist Kingdom, so I know what a jerk he can be! But I have seen a different side of him. He can actually be quite sweet."

"Sweet!" Anzu nearly spat her teeth out.

"That's not a word I would use to describe Kaiba," Yugi frowned. Even after the 'mind crush' he had still remained an obstinate, self centred, cruel bastard. Yami Yugi materialised next to him.

"Yugi! Is that still how you view Kaiba?" He asked, full of concern that Yugi was still holding onto his anger from the past.

Yugi jumped. "Other Me! You weren't meant to hear that!" He had not intended for private thoughts to leak from his soul room.

His friends both gave him a confused look. "Is something wrong Yugi?" Anzu enquired.

Yugi waved his hand in front of his face out of embarrassment. "Just talking to the other Me. He thinks Kaiba is a self centred jerk!" To deflect the issue, he smirked cheekily at Yami Yugi.

Yami Yugi pretended to look angry. "Why you...! Do not blame your own thoughts on me Aibou. Just you wait! I will have my revenge."

Yugi's face turned to a pout. Uh-oh! Had he just upset his other Self?

Anzu and Katsu both chuckled. "You're not arguing with your other Self are you Yugi?" Anzu grinned.

"Erm... not exactly," Yugi scratched his head. "More... debate, with a hint of..."

"Well, as long as you're not bitching over me!" Katsu raised an intrigued eyebrow.

Both Yugi's squawked in response.

"Bitching?!"

"Bitching?!"

Yami Yugi folded his arms irritably. "We do not bitch!" He growled out, with a sinister expression.

"It's okay Other Me. Katsu was only teasing us... I think," he smirked.

"Yeah, it's okay Other Yugi!" Katsu looked around. "Where is he? Can you see him Yugi?"

Yugi nodded that he could. "He's right here," he pointed just above his right shoulder. "He's trying to look tall by hovering about three feet off the ground." He grinned sheepishly at his alter ego, who pouted and floated down so that he appeared to be standing next to Yugi.

"I'm still taller than you Aibou," he winked, causing Yugi to straighten his terrible posture and make them both the same height.

At the mention of the other Yugi standing right next to Yugi, Anzu shuffled a little closer to him, unaware that her body overlapped with the spirit's.

Yami Yugi looked slightly embarrassed by his body overlaying hers and moved so that she was actually sandwiched between himself and Yugi. He looked across at Yugi and winked. "Fancy a threesome Aibou?"

Yugi almost jumped in the air as he shrieked. "Whaaa! Other Me! No! Don't say things like that!"

"Told you I would get my revenge," he snickered, vanishing inside the Puzzle.

Both Anzu and Katsu were staring open mouthed at Yugi, for his outburst, wondering why his face was scarlet.

"What did he just say Yugi?" Anzu asked, intrigued.

"Yeah, come on Yugi? We're dying to know," Katsu added.

Yugi's jaw flapped. There was no way he could repeat what his other Self had just said. It was far too rude. "Erm... He said that.. that Anzu just stepped on his feet."

"What?!" Anzu jumped back. "Oops! Sorry!" She looked around. "Where is he?"

Thankful that he had managed to wriggle out of an embarrassing situation, Yugi laughed. "It's... okay.. Anzu," he said, between giggles, "he's gone back into the Puzzle for now."

The three friends all laughed. Katsu put an arm around each of them. Even though she knew how much Jonouchi meant to them, they were doing their best to overcome their prejudice and accept who she was.

They could probably be forgiven for having concerns over her and Kaiba, but they did need to learn to trust her more.

However, they were still amazing friends and she would cherish every moment she had left with them. She just wished that they would be a little more understanding about her taste in men!

"You guys are the best, ya know that...?" She hesitated a moment, and was just about to say the word 'but' when Anzu suddenly gasped at what time it was.

"We should get going! We're late. Honda and Mai will be waiting for us."

Katsu checked the time. Thanks to their discussion, they were running late and Katsu had not been able to finish saying everything that she wanted to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how my readers feel, but I felt sorry for both Katsu and Jonouchi while writing this!  
> Please let me know your thoughts.


	17. Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang go for a fun day out to Domino Park, but guess who turns up?

The walk to their meeting point would only take about ten minutes at a brisk pace.

As they prepared to leave, Anzu messaged Honda to say they they were on their way. She did not get a reply from him so they had no idea if he had received the message, but of all her male friends he was usually the most reliable when it came to remembering to switch his phone on!

"Didn't you say Mai was coming too?" Yugi asked. "Maybe you should let her know as well," he suggested. Nodding, Anzu sent the same message to Mai.

The trio started walking.

"Hey!" Katsu began, "Can I ask you two a favour?" Her voice sounded a little stressed, causing Yugi and Anzu to look at her with concern.

"What sort of favour?" Yugi furrowed his brows in concern.

"Of course you can," said Anzu, giving Yugi a hesitant side glance to gauge his reaction. If Katsu was going to ask them to tell more lies to Honda...

"About me and Kaiba-" At their expressions, Katsu paused hesitantly and almost swallowed her tongue. "I.. I would appreciate if you don't say anything to Honda or Mai about me staying with Seto last night."

"Are you sure about that?" Said Anzu tersely, checking her phone again for any messages. "They're bound to find out!"

"I'm not quite so bothered about Mai finding out. It's that hot-headed idiot I don't want finding out."

"You can trust us not to say anything," Yugi agreed, even though deceiving Honda made him feel bad.

However, Anzu voiced her concerns more readily. "I know he can be a hothead but I still think he deserves to know," she stated. "Secrets between best friends can cause problems."

Katsu could see her point, but Jonuchi had known Honda since middle school and was aware of how conservative he could be about such things. Plus, Honda had already had harsh words with her over her decision to go on the first couple of dates with Kaiba. She had promised him that she would not see Seto again, but had gone back on that promise. "Believe me! It will cause a bigger problem if I tell him. I will take the risk."

Anzu was not happy about being complicit in keeping a secret that could leave a permanent scar on their bond of friendship. "But he will know that I know about you and Seto because you're living at my house! It's unfair to ask us to lie!"

"Anzu's right Katsu," Yugi added, finally willing to voice his own concerns. "I think you should talk to Honda. We will be there with you if it helps?"

"Nah, I won't let you two take any blame for my decisions. I've decided, I ain't telling him. End of!"

Anzu sighed. "Well, it's your decision. So I guess we will have to go along with it. But! Don't you dare tell Honda that Yugi and I agree with it!"

"Hey! What da ya take me for?!"

The discussion ended as they reached the meeting point, to find Honda and Mai waiting impatiently. Mai gave them a rather austere look. "Where the hell have you guys been?! We've been waiting nearly twenty minutes!"

"Didn't you get my message?" Anzu asked. "I sent it nearly fifteen minutes ago."

"What message?" Asked Mai, holding out her phone to show that she had not received any messages.

Anzu produced her phone and showed them the messages. She groaned when she noticed that in her haste she had sent the message intended for Mai, to Miho instead. Miho had sent back a question mark. Anzu blushed. "Well, we were walking when I sent it so I must have tapped on her name by mistake, as she's right next to your name." Before her friends could tease her for the mistake, she quickly pointed out that she had sent the same message to Honda, correctly.

"Yeah, except the moron never carries his phone," Katsu remarked, smirking at him in an effort to wind him up in the way Jonouchi often did.

Honda scowled at her and pulled his phone out of his pocket just to prove that he did have his phone. "See! I do have my phone." He smugly waved it under Katsu's nose.

She swiped his hand away. "Yeah... okay smart-ass. Now check ya messages."

The way Katsu and Honda were heckling each other, reminded Yugi of just how much Katsu's personality still resembled Jonouchi's. It gave him a small amount of hope that his friend was not entirely lost.

Honda huffed when he saw the message icon flashing, confirming that he had indeed received the message.

He grinned at them apologetically. "I was babysitting Koji last night and forgot I left my phone on silent." He always put it on silent when he babysat, so as not wake his nephew. Getting that little brat to go to sleep was hard enough as it was, without his phone beeping and waking him up again.

Before Katsu could do what Jonouchi would normally do and make a big thing out of it to wind Honda up, Yugi chipped in. "So!" He said, loud enough to gain their attention. "What do you all want to do?" They all looked at each other, shrugging.

"Dunno!" Katsu muttered. "How about bowling?"

Mai sneered at the idea. "Why do you want to be indoors on such a nice day?"

"It is a bit too nice to be indoors," Anzu agreed. "How about we have a vote? I suggest the zoo."

"I suggest the Theme park," said Yugi.

"I know it's indoors," said Honda. "But how about the museum? They've just added a vintage motorcycle display that I wouldn't mind seeing."

At the mention of the museum, Anzu shuddered. She still remembered what had happened with Mister Kanekura after he had tried to steal Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, in order to sell it to a private collector.

She looked at Yugi cautiously, and noticed that he was actually smiling at Honda's suggestion. She knew that he had always loved visiting the museum with his grandfather, so it would probably take more than some corrupt creep stealing his Puzzle and then being murdered by Shadi, to put him off.

Luckily, Mai came up with a better idea. "I would much rather go to Domino Park! Maybe we could hire a rowing boat and then do as Anzu suggested and visit the Zoo."

"I like that idea," Yugi nodded; he had good memories of the the lake. It was where his father would take him whenever he was home on vacation. When Yugi as seven, his father had taught him how to paddle a canoe, and roll it through 180 – it had been fun.

"Domino Park it is then!" Anzu concluded, with a smile.

As soon as they arrived at the lake, they hired a rowing boat.

Honda remembered the last time he had gone to the lake with Jonouchi. They had been thirteen and had fought with each other over who would take the oars. Neither would compromise and take one oar each, or take turns, because Jonouchi was being over zealous about showing off his rowing skills – of which he had none whatsoever. To avoid capsizing the boat, Honda had eventually conceded, only for Jonouchi to thrust the oars through the water with so much enthusiasm that they had skimmed the surface, shooting water all over Honda. Jonouchi had fallen about laughing and the resulting fight had ended with them both falling into the water.

Now, as he reminisced, Honda found himself missing his goofy, idiotic pal. They had been given such a telling off by the boat owner and banned from the lake for the rest of the summer. What good fun those holidays had been.

"Who wants to row?" Anzu asked, snapping Honda out of his reminiscing.

Katsu chuckled at her own memory of Jonouchi fighting with Honda and falling into the lake. She was about to open her mouth to say that she would take the oars, when Honda quickly pitched in. "Under no circumstances do you let Katsu get hold of the oars!"

"Hey! I know how to row! That was an accident!"

Yug, Anzu and Mai looked at them questioningly. What was an accident?

"You're completely incompetent!" Honda retorted. "You soaked me and almost hit me with the oar!"

"Will you idiots stop it?!" Anzu scolded. "Honestly! I would have thought you would treat each other a little differently now that... well," she hesitated. Now that Jonouchi is not here."

"I don't mind rowing!" Yugi suggested, meekly. "My dad loves canoeing and we often come here when he's home."

Anzu looked at Yugi with surprise! She vaguely remembered Yugi mentioning that his dad was a member of the Domino Canoe and Yachting club. She had not realised that Yugi could paddle. "I thought you had to pass a proficiency course, or something, to hire a canoe?"

Yugi puffed out his chest proudly. He was not best known for his sporting prowess. Sure, he could run very fast, but had spent more time running away from bullies than putting any effort into getting into the track team. "I have a certificate and a badge. I learned when I was seven."

Katsu patted him on the back. "You never cease to amaze us Yuge!"

"Why have you never told us about it Yugi?" Anzu asked, smiling at him proudly.

Beside him, Yami Yugi hovered, looking intrigued. What was a canoe?

Yugi shrugged. "Oh! You know... There's never been a need to say anything." He was never one to brag about his accomplishments.

Honda grinned and rubbed his hands together. "Looks like you get to row then Yugi."

With Katsu still mumbling that it was not fair that she was not allowed to row, the group of friends made their way down the pathway to the kiosk and boat-house, and hired a rowing boat.

Yami Yugi hovered at Yugi's shoulder, observing, as his aibou sat down and skillfully guided the boat away from the jetty. "I must say Aibou, I'm very impressed. Your talents know no bounds," he teased.

"You're too easily impressed Other Me. It doesn't take talent; anyone can row a boat. Except, maybe, Jonouchi. Would you like to switch so you can have a go?"

Yami Yugi shook his head and stretched himself out on a spare seat. "I'm enjoying the sunshine." Something deep within told him that in his lifetime he had liked the sun. Even though, in spirit form, he could not feel its heat, he still loved that the world seemed a much brighter, more positive place when the sun shone.

Thirty minutes later, Yugi guided the small wooden boat back into the jetty. His friends had all been content to sit in the boat and soak up the sun, while Yugi got a workout, pulling on the oars. He didn't mind; it would help tone up his muscles a bit and hopefully impress Anzu.

Back on dry land, they decided to go to the beach cafe for one of their awesome milkshakes.

::::::::::::

It seldom happened, but today was one of those days when Seto Kaiba just could not be bothered to work.

After dropping Katsu off, he and Mokuba had gone straight to KC HQ. But after thirty minutes gazing out of his office window, he was bored.

His office overlooked the city. He could see from the shopping mall and train station close by, all the way to the passenger terminal, commercial docks and warehouses that lined the whole of Domino's coastline.

The port of Domino was conveniently placed in the Chiba region, facing Tokyo Bay, and had grown from a small fishing port into a prosperous town as a result.

To his left, Seto could see the museum and the university, which were both close to Domino National Park. Domino boasted a huge park, consisting of many tree lined walks, popular cafes and a large boating lake, that stretched from Domino, almost as far as the Pacific Ocean. He had not visited there since an outing arranged by the charity that ran the orphanage, when he was eleven. It had been one of the few enjoyable days out he had experienced.

His office door was suddenly flung open and Mokuba bounded in, full of excitement. Seto smirked to himself at his brother's exuberance. If any other employee barged in without knocking, he would fire them.

Pivoting round, he looked sternly at Mokuba. "I thought I told you not to keep barging into my office without knocking?!"

Mokuba did not even flinch. "Sorry Seto, forgot. Wait until you see the awesome upgrade I have made to the security system!" He beamed, excitedly.

"Later," Seto growled dismissively, but then checked himself. "Okay, but quickly. I was thinking we could go out for the afternoon."

Mokuba forgot about showing Seto the upgrade he had installed. "Really?! But what about testing the dual simulator like you wanted?" The duel simulator was Seto's baby. There were still some issues with it but it was very close to being installed in Kaiba Land, where it would be opened up to the paying public. He had thought Seto was in a hurry to finish the testing.

"It can wait. Do you remember the last time we visited Domino Park?"

"Yes, just about. It was while we were still at the orphanage, wasn't it?"

"It was. Do you fancy going there now?"

"You bet I do!" He grinned, bouncing about excitedly. "Can we get a boat and have one of their giant ice cream sundaes?"

"Of course. Let's go." He grabbed his coat off its hook and strode towards the door. Mokuba dumped his laptop on Seto's desk and scurried after him.

As they headed for the lift, Seto tapped the communicator on his lapel and ordered Isono to bring the car round to the front of the building.

::::::::::::

Having found a seat outside in the sunshine, the gang sat down and placed their orders for milkshakes and sundaes. Just as Jonouchi would normally do, Katsu ordered the Mount Fuji; which consisted of a chocolate brownie on the bottom, layers of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, topped with huge swirl of whipped cream and finished with chopped nuts. It was usually recommended as a sharing desert, but Jonouchi always managed to devour one on his own.

However, after last night's belly buster, Katsu found herself struggling. She found it a bit too sickly and sweet for her taste buds, and just did not have Jonouchi's hollow legs when it came to food.

Honda laughed when she sat back and rubbed her tummy. "Not like you to struggle to finish one of those!"

Katsu pouted. "I can't eat as much as I could and I went out for a huge meal last night. I had the parfait which was a bit too similar to this." She almost cringed at the admission of going out for a meal last night. She had not meant the slip-up. Honda was bound to question where she had gone, and with whom? She dare not let on it was with Kaiba and would have to invent a good excuse.

Honda narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Who did you go with?" The other three were not complaining about being full, so it could not have been with them.

"I know what you're thinking. It wasn't a date, okay? And if it was, it's none of your business." The redness of her face was proof that it must have been a date.

"So!" Honda was a little miffed about being left out. "Do any of you know about this date? Or is it a secret?"

Mai shrugged and looked just as puzzled. "Don't ask me!"

"Well... we sort of know," Yugi nervously answered, trying not to stutter. "B.. but, it wasn't actually a date, as such..."

"You and Yugi went on a date?!" Mai gasped.

Katsu smirked, relieved that she had found a way out of admitting she had been with Kaiba. "Yeah, me and Yugi went out together last night," she stated, boldly.

"It wasn't that sort of date!" Yugi's face coloured up as he tried to support her lie. "We were just hanging out, as friends, like we always do. Katsu ate too much!"

"What about you Anzu? Do you mind Yugi going out with Katsu?" Mai teased.

"Mai! Of course I don't mind! I trust them! What are you suggesting?" Anzu's voice was slightly tense. Come to think of it, how would she feel about Yugi and Katsu hanging out together? It was not quite the same now that Jonouchi was a girl.

Honda guffawed. "Don't worry Yugi, I'm not jealous about you having two girlfriends."

Yugi's jaw flapped and he almost choked on his milkshake. "It's not! It's not like that!" He could feel his other self laughing. "Other Me!," He growled. "Stop laughing at me and.. help?!"

But the spirit remained hidden inside the Puzzle.

As they chatted, none of them noticed Mokuba and Seto walking along the path towards the boating lake.

Mokuba stopped walking and shook Seto by the arm. "Look! There's Yugi and his friends. Katsu's with them." He was a little surprised that he could not see Jonouchi with them as well.

Seto looked over in the direction his little brother was pointing. "Yes, I can see, Mokuba!" He responded sharply. Usually, he would go out of his way to avoid them but... Katsu was there.

His heart did a little flutter in his chest at the sight of her laughing and chatting and sitting...

-His insides knotted sharply as he scrutinised the seating arrangement. Honda and Katsu were on one side of the table, sitting on the bench seat, far too closely. While Yugi was sat opposite them, sandwiched between Mai and Anzu.

It did not take much effort or him to imagine that Honda was trying to get his hands grimy paws on Katsu! Without saying anything to Mokuba, he stomped over to where they were sitting. He would soon put a stop to whatever it was that Honda had on his tiny little mind.

He approached their table, just in time to hear Honda saying something about being jealous, while Yugi was making himself look stupid by spluttering into his milkshake.

"Who is not jealous, Yugi?" He asked, pointedly.

"Kaiba!" Yugi shrieked, almost jumping out of his skin.

Honda narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Not the sort of place I would expect to see you hanging out!"

"It's for Mokuba! I wouldn't be seen dead eating at a dump like this," he sneered dismissively. He then caught Katsu's eye and his face flushed. He cleared his throat. "But since we're here, we may as well join you."

"Of course you can," Anzu shuffled closer to Yugi so that Mokuba could squeeze onto the bench seat.

Honda looked at Katsu suspiciously when she patted the space beside her for Seto Kaiba to sit down. Was something going on between them?

"Hey guys! Where's Jonouchi?" Mokuba blurted, before Honda could open his mouth to ask Katsu and Kaiba if they were an item.

Anzu and Yugi both tried not to look at Katsu, as Yugi answered Mokuba's question. "Jonouchi has gone to stay with his sister!" He blurted.

"He will be away for a couple more weeks. His sister is not very well," Anzu hurriedly added.

Mokuba pouted. "It's a real shame Jonouchi had to go away just when you came to stay with him, isn't it Katsu?"

Katsu tried not to grimace. The kid had no idea...

The group of friends gave him rather superficial smiles. Thank God he did not know the truth!

Realising that she should say something, Katsu cleared her throat. "Yeah, it is a shame. I got onto the student exchange programme, just so I could come and see my cousin! He was full of wanting me to meet his friends. But stuff happens. Shizuka's vision is really bad. She is going to need an operation real soon and she wanted to see her brother while she could still see, just in case the operation doesn't work."

"That's terrible!" Mokuba gasped, his eyes going wide. "What will happen if the operation doesn't work?"

"They can only operate once. If it fails, she will go completely blind," said Katsu, sadly, wiping at a tear.

Seto took her hand and squeezed it. Shizuka was Katsu's cousin, so of course she would be upset.

"But it won't fail," Katsu sniffed, acknowledging Seto by absent-mindedly clasping her other hand over his. "Thanks to Yugi, Shizuka can now afford to latest eye surgery."

Seto narrowed his eyes and glared at Yugi. That's right! Not only had Yugi defeated Pegasus and saved everyone, he had also given Jonouchi his winnings. Seto hated do-gooders. And he still found it sickening to think that it had been Yugi who had saved himself, Mokuba and Kaiba Corp. The very fact that Yugi was always so damn nice too everyone made him gag. In fact, sitting here with the dweeb squad was sickening. Was this girl really worth all this humiliation?

He suddenly felt very self conscious and out of place. However, the beaming smile on Mokuba's face as the waitress approached and asked for their order, gave him an excuse for being here.

"What are you having Seto?" Mokuba's voice cut through his thoughts, alerting him the the fact that everyone was staring at him.

His tummy rumbled but there was no way he was going to eat anything in front of the dweebs.

"Just a black coffee, extra strong, two sugars," he stated, blandly.

As soon as the waitress left with Seto's order for coffee and Mokuba's order for a Mount Fuji, Honda cleared his throat. He had spent the last few minutes rehearsing what he was going to say, because he did not want to raise any sort of suspicion about Katsu's true identity.

However, it was obvious that his friends knew about Katsu and Kaiba's relationship, and he felt hurt that they would keep him out of the loop.

Was it because they did not trust him? Did they think he would throw a wobbly about Katsu dating Kaiba? Too frigging right, he would. "You went out to dinner with him last night, didn't you? Why didn't you tell me?" His attempt to sound casual about it failed, and instead, sounded accusing and bitter.

Seto interpreted his tone as jealousy. Was Katsu double dating? He bore into her with an accusing glare. "Are you and this loser on a date?"

"What?!" Katsu shrieked. "No way would I date that loser! He's Jonouchi's best friend! He'd kill him if he touched Me!" That was no lie!

Realising by Kaiba's body language that the jerk was prepared to fight him over Katsu, he threw his hands up. "Hey! Lighten up dude! She's right! I wouldn't touch her with a barge-pole, let alone with my..."

"Yes!" Anzu interjected, loudly, before Honda said something crude. "-I think we get it Honda!" Still concerned that Honda and Kaiba were about to punch each other, she added. "Kaiba, I can assure you that Honda and Katsu are definitely not dating."

"Yeah," Katsu agreed. However cool it would be to see the pair of them fighting over her, she knew she had to prevent a scene. "Please don't be jealous Seto, they are my friends. They have been real good about looking out for me when Jonouchi... er... left. Without them, I would have been totally lost." Screwed more likely, she thought.

Feeling stupid for almost behaving like a total jerk in public, Seto huffed. "Don't stress yourselves. I'm not about to hurt your friend."

You think you're capable of hurting ME?! Honda seethed to himself. He was desperate to speak out, but kept quiet. He knew when to be the better man, and quit. But he would still give his friends a roasting later for keeping secrets from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I give a location for where I think Domino might be, it's just speculation as I don't actually know where in japan Kaz imagines it is. Anyone else have any ideas/theories? If so, I would love to hear them.


	18. Strained Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things get bit fractious in this chapter and Honda is dangerously close to losing his temper and blowing Katsu's cover. Will he or won't he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of smut and swearing, but not too bad.

They did their best to ignore it, but no one could avoid noticing the tense atmosphere that hung over the table where they were seated. Anzu felt sure that at any moment, Honda, Katsu and Seto would all start beating the crap out of one another.

Thankfully, the tension as broken when Mokuba's Mount Fuji sundae arrived.

Seto rolled his eyes. "You will never eat it all."

"You always say that Seto. But just you watch me!" He beamed, licking his lips.

Seto smirked knowingly. "And I'm always right."

"How are you not overweight Mokuba?" Anzu teased.

"Because I'm a Kaiba," he grinned. "If I'm gonna grow to be over six feet, then I need to do a lot of eating."

Everyone laughed at that.

"You gotta long way to go short stuff," Katsu teased.

"Hey! No one calls me short stuff and gets away with it!" Mokuba pouted. "Besides, I'm only just thirteen!"

Anzu winked at him. "You need to eat lots of healthy fruit and vegetables if you want to grow tall like your brother."

"Isn't that exactly what I'm always telling you Mokuba?" Said Seto. Looking at Yugi with a smug expression, he added "Maybe Yugi should try eating more vegetables too." His dig at Yugi earned him a sharp prod in the side from Katsu.

He sucked in a sharp intake of air and let out a squeak, which he unsuccessfully tried to disguise. Everyone laughed, prompting him to scowl at Katsu. "What was that for?"

"Serves you right for picking on Yugi." He should be thankful that it was only a poke in the side, Jonouchi would have decked him with a right hook for picking on his diminutive friend.

"It's okay guys," Yugi gave them all a disarming grin, "I'm not offended."

"That's not the point," said Anzu, defending her friend. "It was the way Kaiba said it that was offensive."

Seto huffed. "Get over it Mazaki. I was merely using him as an example." Being here was a mistake. He should not be wasting his energy talking to them.

Doing his best to appear bored, he drained the rest of his coffee and placed his cup down. He was ready to go but Mokuba was still wading through his huge sundae.

He was relieved when Mokuba pushed it to one side and said he was finished. Fuji had defeated him.

They paid the bill and everyone got up to leave. There was a moment of awkwardness when they reached the footpath and Seto asked Katsu if she wanted to ditch her friends and join him and Mokuba.

She hesitantly looked at her friends. "I.. I don't know.. What are you guys gonna do now? Did you want to get another boat?"

"Erm... not really," Anzu answered. "I was hoping we would go to the zoo now. What does everyone else want to do?"

Yugi did not really care as long as he was with Anzu. He shrugged. "I will do what ever you want to do."

Mai was more assertive. "I'm not going on the lake again."

Meanwhile, Honda was still stewing inside and was desperate to drum some common sense into his idiotic friend. "So, you're gonna ditch us for Kaiba, are you, Katsu?" He knew dam well that she would sense the irritation in his tone.

Katsu had her own card to play. "What's got into you Honda? I only met you a couple of weeks ago but you behave like you own me!"

Honda stiffened his posture and glared at her. He had to put a stop to this stupidity, before his friend got in way over her head and did something she would cause Jonouchi to regret. "Jonouchi is my best pal, or have you forgotten about that? Are you also forgetting that he hates Kaiba?" Wake up you dork! Come back to your senses.

"It's none of Jonouchi's business who I date, or yours, so butt out Honda." There, she had spoken. If he did not get the message to back off now, she did not know what she would do.

Honda threw his hands up in exasperation. "Guys!" He turned to Yugi and Anzu. "Help me knock some sense into... into-"

"Honda!" Yugi and Anzu both shouted, before their friend could blow Katsu's true identity. Their volume also drew some strange looks from passers by.

The colour, meanwhile, had drained from Katsu's face.

Realising how close he had come to saying 'his stupid thick brain' Honda immediately backtracked. "Okay, okay, I get it! But I promised Jonouchi I would take good care of you, and letting you date Kaiba means I've failed in my duty to a friend."

Upset at seeing her friends like this, Anzu tried to smooth things over. "It doesn't matter if you want to go with Kaiba, Katsu. But Honda is right to be concerned. Jonouchi will not like you dating Kaiba, and you know what that hot head is like. He's bound to blame Honda for not stopping you and take it out on him - just like he always does."

"Thank you Anzu," Katsu breathed a sigh of relief that her friend had defused the situation. "Please don't worry Honda. I can deal with Jonouchi."

"Yeah, sorry I shouted at you," Shaking with rage, Honda lowered his gaze and turned away. "Come on, Mai, Yugi, Anzu, lets go. See ya later Katsu."

"See ya! And... don't worry," she called out. "We're all good, yeah?" She felt terrible for her friend. It did not take much brain power to know what Honda was thinking. But why couldn't he trust her?

She was in control; not just of the body, but of her emotions as well.

"I don't know why you even bother with that bunch of losers," Seto huffed, taking her hand and dragging her towards the kiosk. "Let's go and get a boat." He was not going to allow himself to be flustered by the dweeb patrol and their stupid display of over protective friendship! If anything, it made him all the more determined to rescue Katsu from their clutches, permanently.

He decided that the best solution would be to move Katsu into the mansion for the rest of her stay. Maybe he could even convince her to stay for good. He would ask her later, when Mokuba was not around.

Scurrying after his brother, Mokuba could not care less about all the arguing. He had got Seto out of the office for the afternoon and he was going to make the most of it.

"Can I get a kayak Seto?" He pleaded. Seto stopped and turned around, scrutinising him with narrowed eyes.

"Are you sure? I don't want you throwing Mount Fuji up all over yourself!"

Mokuba rolled his eyes at him and huffed. "Seto!" He whined. "I'm not going to throw up!"

Seto sighed. "Very well. But if you do, make sure you do it in the lake and not on yourself." At least his younger brother being in his own kayak would give him and Katsu some time alone in a rowing boat.

::::::::::::

The moment they were on a quieter path and out of earshot of anyone, Honda let his anger burst to the surface. " That moron! What the fuck is she doing? Does she have a death wish for Jonouchi or something? Because if Kaiba finds out, he's gonna murder her, and us as well for knowing about it." He then rounded on Yugi and Anzu. "You two are just as guilty for not telling me what was going on! Why didn't you stop her seeing him!"

"I'm sorry Honda!" Said Yugi, guiltily. "But we didn't tell you because Katsu made us promise not to." He should have known that Honda would find out. If he had been more assertive with Katsu himself, he could have stopped her from ever dating Kaiba in the first place.

Sensing Yugi's turmoil, Anzu placed her hand on his shoulder. "We didn't say anything to you, because Katsu pleaded with us not to. She knew you would react like this. I can assure you that we're just as worried as you are, but what can we do?!"

"You should have told me," he hissed.

"You're bone headed reaction is why they didn't," Mai scolded. "I don't know why you're so upset? Anyone would think you had the hots for her yourself!"

Honda snarled at her. "Not helping Mai," he hissed.

"Honda is right about one thing Yugi. We should have told him." Yami Yugi stayed hidden inside the Puzzle, but his thoughts reached Yugi.

"I know," said Yugi, out loud. "We tried to talk her out of seeing Kaiba, but she's not Jonouchi. She has her own personality. The Shadow magic has created a female version of him."

Honda's brows knitted together in a frown. "Yeah, and a stubborn one at that! Geez, what a mess. " He had seen a lot of weird things since becoming friends with Yugi. Was it possible that the Millennium items could be used to make an alternative version of someone? That was scary.

No! That as ridiculous. "So, where has the real Jonouchi gone?" He asked, looking to Yugi for an answer. After all, he did hold a Millennium item.

"The other Me thinks he is still there, somewhere, deep inside his heart, but is slowly being lost. The longer Katsu is in control, the more she takes over."

"And there's nothing we can do do to stop it...?" Honda sighed in resignation.

"Not without a spell to undo the magic," Yugi responded, reflectively.

"It still think Bakura is lying to us. There must be a reversal spell," said Anzu.

"I don't think our Bakura would lie," Yugi corrected her. "And even if the other Bakura did know how to reverse the spell, there's no way he would reverse it."

"Yeah, and we've already tried beating it out of him," Honda grumbled. "I don't know what else we can do."

"We could always try being more supportive and understanding," Mai suggested. "Katsu has been growing as a person and I have to admit that I am very fond of her. We have become good friends. It will be sad when she leaves us."

"I know how you feel Mai, but we have to remember she is just a temporary replacement for Jonoucji. She is not supposed to exist," Anzu stated, firmly.

"But she does exist and we have to deal with her being here as best we can," Yugi concluded. "And arguing about it is not helping any of us."

"Yugi is right," Anzu agreed. "And the last thing we want to do is make Katsu feel bad about existing. It's not her fault she's here."

Honda gave them a guilty smile. He had taken out his anger on his friends and now felt like the bad guy. "Way to make me feel guilty for having a go at you all. I guess I'm gonna have to apologise," sighing like a condemned man.

"It's okay Honda, you don't need to apologise," said Yugi. "Let's just forget about it for now and enjoy the zoo."

Anzu forced a weary smile. Maybe visiting the zoo and seeing the animals would help take their minds off everything for a while.

The zoo was not large, but it was a very popular attraction, especially with school children, because it had a large petting area where they could hold rabbits, guinea pigs, and even reptiles. Yugi remembered how he had liked handling the snakes when they had gone on a school visit during elementary school. The trip had been made all the more enjoyable because the class bully had been frightened of the snakes.

"If you think cuddling a few fluffy bunnies will help us forget that our friend is getting up to no good in a small boat with his sworn enemy, then okay," said Honda, with a frown.

Yugi shot him a wide eyed, worried look. "They wouldn't do anything like that! Mokuba is with them!"

Anzu shook her head to get rid of the thought. "Yeah, Yugi's right. Please don't say things like that Honda. I don't even want to think about it."

"I thought we had agreed not to talk about it while we were here!" Mai groaned.

"Sorry Mai," stated Honda, "but you can't pretend nothing's going to happen. Why do you think I got so angry? Katsu is very attractive. Kaiba might be an uptight a-hole, but I bet he still has typical male thoughts about women!"

"And what would those be exactly?" Mai smirked at him.

"Yes, please elaborate Honda?" Anzu glared, hands on hips. Why were boys such perverts?

Realising he was digging himself a hole, Honda started trying to defend himself. "We're not! We're just regular teenage boys who appreciate women... A little help here Yugi?"

Yugi shuffled behind Anzu, in the hope he could be left out of this discussion about why boys were such perverts. Anzu often complained to him about it as though that did not include him! For some reason, she liked to pretend that he was pure and innocent, and that Honda and Jonouchi were lecherous perverts. If she knew the truth...!

He was dragged back into the discussion by Honda. "...Admit it Yugi, you also find her attractive, don't you? And if you didn't know who she really was, wouldn't you want to take a chance with her? I know I would."

"Honda!" Yugi grimaced, his face flushing. "Don't say things like that! She's our friend!"

Realising that he had been digging himself an even deeper hole, Honda blushed and backtracked. "Don't take it so literally! I was only speaking hypothetically."

"Hypothetical or not" Mai stated, "You're right Honda. If I was on the other team, I would probably be after her myself," she joked, with a smirk and a wink.

Yugi and Anzu gaped like goldfish at Mai's comment, and their chins almost hit the floor at Honda's response.

"Can I watch?"

Mai hit him with her bag, which was quite heavy!

::::::::::::

Relived the dweeb squad had not followed them, Seto hired a kayak for Mokuba and a rowing boat for himself and Katsu.

After ensuring that Mokuba had done his life jacket up correctly and helped him to push his kayak into the water, he and Katsu went over to the jetty.

Seto offered his hand to help Katsu into the rowing boat but she declined – she was more than capable of getting onto a boat by herself.

This whole situation felt weird and Katsu almost laughed out loud. What would Jonouchi think of the way she was draped over a seat at the stern of the boat like a glamorous model? She had one arm over the side, trailing her fingertips through the water, while opposite her, Seto Kaiba manfully paddled. He had pulled his tie loose and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, exposing his chest. The way his muscles rippled underneath his tightly fitting silk shirt did not escape her. His suit jacket had been thrown into Katsu's lap for her to hold while he rowed and she was very tempted to pull it over her shoulders so that she could inhale his scent. Oh My God! What was she thinking?!

Her facial expressions must have given her away because Seto's serene smile suddenly turned to a concerned frown. "Is something wrong?"

Katsu jumped. "What?!"

"I asked if something was wrong?"

"No! Well, I... I was thinking... I hope I didn't upset my friends, bailing on them like that."

Seto shrugged with disinterest. He did not give a shit about them. "They will get over it."

"Even so, I should say sorry. They have been very kind to me after Jonouchi left. Can we go and find them after this? I think they were going to the zoo."

"Whatever," Seto shrugged. If she still insisted on finding them when they got off the boat, he would convince her otherwise.

Mokuba came up alongside them on his kayak. "Hey!" He beamed. "Can we go to the zoo in a minute?"

"Mokuba!" Seto rolled his eyes. "We've only been on the lake for fifteen minutes!" The boats were generally hired out in thirty minute slots.

"I've already been round the lake twice. I'm bored." He was not about to admit that thanks to Mount Fuji, his stomach was feeling a bit uncomfortable.

Seto sighed. "Go round once more and then we will go to the zoo, okay?"

"Okay!" Ignoring the stich in his side, Mokuba set off as fast as he could around the lake.

Seto shook his head. His little brother had the attention span of a goldfish sometimes.

"Looks like we're going to the zoo then?" Katsu suggested, raising an eyebrow at Seto.

"You and Mokuba are lucky I'm still in a good mood." The irony in his voice made Katsu want to guffaw, but she thought better of it.

As soon as Mokuba returned, puffing hard from his frantic paddling, Seto kept his word and they made their way back to the jetty.

When they got off the rowing boat, Seto noticed a few people staring and pointing at them in astonishment. It seemed that news of Seto Kaiba visiting the park had spread, and fans were starting to appear.

Great! He should have realised that something like this might happen. He should have remembered to bring his bodyguard to frighten people away.

He just had to hope that none of the people who held a grudge against him showed up. There was more than one person he could think of that might want to attack him. However, if push did come to shove, he was more than capable of defending himself. He would have to stay on his guard, just in case.

Sticking his nose in the air, he took Katsu's hand and dragged her from the jetty and onto the pathway. If they were quick, he could get away before any of his 'fans' could accost him for an autograph, or even worse, a selfie.

"Wha... what's the hurry?" Katsu squeaked, as she was almost pulled off her feet.

"Keep walking," he hissed. "I don't wish to interact with those people."

"But...! Don't be so mean! They're fans!" She recalled how Jonouchi was desperate to be swooned over by adoring fans. "Hi there!" She smiled and waved to a gap toothed boy who was gawking hopefully at them.

Taking it as an invite, the boy, who was probably around six or seven years old, broke fee from his mother's grip and came running over expectantly. "Mishter Kaiba!" The boy lisped, excitedly.

Cursing internally, Seto forced one of his sardonic smiles and looked down at the boy.

Intimidated by the looming figure in front of him, the boy stopped in his tracks and started trembling nervously. The other fans hoping to get a word with Seto, faltered in their steps and held back.

Do you like scaring little kids? Katsu thought, but unlike her male self would have, she did not voice it aloud. Instead, she bent to the boy's level and smiled warmly. "What's your name?"

"D..D..Daisuke Miss. W.. what's yours?"

"My name is Katsu. I'm a friend of old grump bag here." She gestured at Seto with her thumb. Beside her, she heard Seto snort in annoyance at the reference. "Would you like a photo with Seto?"

Oh, no! Seto internalised a string of expletives, that if he had verbalised them would have probably sent everyone running away screaming with their ears covered. He was very tempted.

"Yesth pleashe!" The boy shrilled, making Seto wince.

Looking eternally grateful, the boy's mother bowed lowly and handed Katsu her phone. Katsu handed the phone to Seto, because he had longer arms, and pulled him down to the boy's level for a selfie. Mokuba happily joined them for the picture.

"Smile Seto," Katsu ordered, and not wishing to upset her, he obliged.

What the Fuck am I doing this for? He thought, as more eager fans joined them, waving their phones.

Seto timed how long they were kept there and was very quick to point out to Katsu and Mokuba that he had just been forced to waste twenty five minutes of his precious time on those people.

"But they're fans!" Katsu snapped back at him. "If it wasn't for them, you wouldn't be so rich!"

"She's right Seto," Mokuba reluctantly agreed. "However much we dislike them, we should be grateful to those people for buying all our merchandise."

"Whatever," Seto huffed. "I just wish they wouldn't try to touch me. I don't want their germs."

Jonouchi would have been quite prepared to start a fight with him over a comment like that. But Katsu was learning to control the side of herself that liked a good fight. Seto Kaiba had a huge superiority complex.

"I have no idea why I love you, because you're a totally arrogant dork sometimes, Seto," she giggled, nudging him as they walked towards the small zoo.

The moment the words came tumbling out of her mouth, she felt a jolt inside. Shit! Had she really just said that? Surely she didn't mean it romantically, did she?

Seto stopped walking abruptly and stared at her smugly. "Did you just say you loved me?"

"I didn't!" She squeaked. "I meant it like, yeah... like... I love you as a friend." Oh crap! She was making it worse.

"Then, prove it? Move into the mansion with me?" He sounded so serious that Katsu felt her insides knotting and flipping.

"But I'm going home in a couple of weeks!"

"You don't have to go. You could stay if you wish."

"But I'm not long turned seventeen! I'm only here because my parents said I could go on the exchange programme. If they say I have to go home, then I have to obey them."

"I'm sure your parents would agree to let you stay if I spoke to them." Everyone had their price. If he had to pay them, he would. But who wouldn't want their daughter to be dating Seto Kaiba?

"I.. I.." She was tongue tied.

"Yeah!" Mokuba whooped excitedly. "Please come and stay? Seto's far less moody since he's been dating you. He's even taking time off work to have fun!"

"You mean he can be even more bad tempered than he is today?!" She said jokingly, trying to deflect the conversation. She already knew just how mean he could be because Jonouchi had been on the receiving end of his venom at Duelist Kingdom. But Katsu had rationalized the incident with the duel disk, by reminding herself that Jonouchi had become a stronger person as a result.

However, she still could not understand why she had feelings for a man who had given her male self so much shit?!

Even though she was filled with dread, she found herself agreeing to discuss it with her parents later.

Of course, Jonouchi's parents would not be involved - she would be discussing it with her friends. They would freak out for certain, and Katsu knew deep in her heart that she could not move in with him.

But it was still nice to dream that it might be possible for her to separate from Jonouchi and live her own independent life.

Bringing her mind back into the real world, she walked ahead of them so that they could not see the expression on her face.

"Now look what you've done Mokuba," Seto hissed. "You have freaked her out!"

"Me!" Mokuba looked at him with exasperation. "You were the one who asked her to move in!" Seto could not really argue with that so he rolled his eyes and followed Katsu.

He was having a hard time trying to fathom her out. She seemed quite happy to spend time with him, but as soon as he he made any sort of move towards romance she seemed to freeze up. Most girls would have jumped at the opportunity to live with him and be his girlfriend!

His long strides soon enabled him to catch up with her. "You don't have to give me an answer today. Tomorrow will do." Why was he being so generous?

What on earth was she going to do? The sensible thing would be to end this charade and go into hiding until she changed back into Jonouchi. But common sense was not something she wanted right now. If this wasn't all so screwed up in the first place, the decision would be easy. Unable to think of anything to say, she mumbled, "thanks."

Without discussing it further, Seto paid the entrance fee and the trio went into the zoo.

A little way along the path, Katsu spotted her friends coming towards them.

She was just about to wave and catch their attention, when Seto mumbled a curse. He had seen them too. "This way." He took a left turn towards the reptile house. He really couldn't be bothered with them at the moment.

Unfortunately for him, they had already spotted him.

Ignoring the fact that his big brother was not keen on them, Mokuba waved at them. Mai, Yugi and Anzu waved back, while Honda just nodded his head.

Unlike his brother, Mokuba had grown to like Yugi and his friends. Despite the mean things he had tried to do to them, they had still helped him and Seto. And if it were not for Yugi, their soulless bodies would have probably rotted away in Pegasus' dungeons by now. Seto would never admit it, but they both owed Yugi, big time.

But the only thing Yugi had ever asked of them, was that they call each other friends. Mokuba was happy with that, but Seto would rather pay Yugi money than call him a friend. Maybe all that would change and they could all be friends now that his brother was dating Katsu.

"What a coincidence!" Yugi grinned, as he approached. "We were just heading to the reptile house. Maybe we could all go in together?"

"Actually! We were just leaving," Seto responded coldly.

"Oh! Well, okay." Yugi looked a little taken aback, but was more than used to this sort of response and had been expecting it.

"But, Seto?" Mokuba whined. "We just got here!"

"You can stay if you wish, Mokuba. I have more important business to attend to." He seemed oblivious to the disappointment on Mokuba's face. "Are you coming Katsu?" He was testing her loyalty. Who would she choose? Him or them?

Katsu hesitated. She felt really awkward. Making her choose between her frosty boyfriend and her smiling friends was not fair.

"Well! Are you coming?" He repeated. Katsu swallowed and glanced at her friends, hoping they might be understanding and cut her some slack.

"Do you mind...?" She really did not want to hurt them. "Only... you know I don't like creepy crawlies and snakes and things..." The way her friends were looking at her made her stomach drop.

Yugi, Anzu and Mai looked worried, while Honda... That look! Katsu was suddenly afraid that he would reveal her true identity.

What the hell was she playing at? Honda levelled a stern glare at his former best friend. He knew that Jonouchi didn't like snakes and spiders, but he wasn't so scared that he could not even go inside the reptile house! He was finding it impossible to understand why his best friend was dating that jerk. He had to put a stop to this, quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What will Honda do? All will be revealed in the next chapter.
> 
> Please lease a review and see ya next time.


	19. Impossible Choice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honda falls out with Katsu and almost shops her in public! Be warned of some tension and swearing in this chapter.

The seconds seemed to drag as Honda and Katsu stared each other out. Honda could see her eyes welling up with tears, and the way she was almost pleading with him not to do this to her made his insides clench. Looking into her face, he could no longer see any hint of Jonouchi reflected in her gaze. Was his friend really gone? He could feel himself wavering; there was no way he could be so unkind as to shop her in such a cruel way. This was a public place; it would be a scandal.

Sensing something bad might happen, Mokuba had already run to his brother's side and was tugging on his sleeve, urging him not to get into a fight with them.

Meanwhile, Yugi felt a surge of panic and dread rush through him as realised that Honda might be on the verge of shopping his friend. If Honda did tell Kaiba that Katsu was Jonouchi, there would be a cataclysmic eruption of such magnitude, that even the unlikely event of Mount Fuji suddenly spewing hot lava all over Japan would pale in significance. He had to stop this, now!

Stepping in front of Honda, he bravely held his hand up in a gesture that told the tall brunette to back off, and glared pleadingly at his two friends. The pair were still boring holes into one another over the top of his head and it broke his heart to think that their friendship might be permanently destroyed should Honda spill the beans. "Guys! It doesn't matter!" He commanded, as boldly as he could.

Honda did not seem to hear him due to the red mist that was consuming him, so Yugi reached out and gripped Honda's sleeve, and shook him. "Honda! Please don't ..."

Honda thumped his hand away forcefully. But when Yugi yelped at the pain it caused him, Honda blinked and the red mist cleared allowing him to regain his usual voice of reason. "I'm sorry if I hit you Yugi. I'm not going to say anything. I'm just concerned and angry." He took in a shaky breath. "Have you no pride in Jonouhci's reputation, Katsu?" He snarled.

If there was one thing Katsu had in common with her male self, it was her refusal to back down or admit defeat. Like a dog stealing the Sunday roast, she gave him a victorious and rebellious smile. "You don't own me," she snapped, "and neither does Jonouchi. I make my own decisions."

Seto Kaiba folded his arms smugly. So, he had been right earlier. Honda did have a thing for Katsu, but she had obviously rejected him. And now the idiot was putting on a stupid display of possessive anger and jealousy. It made him want to laugh out loud. If that moron wanted to fight him for her, he would soon find out that Seto had a black belt in Karate.

Beside him, Mokuba could feel his brother flexing his muscles. "Please... Seto? It really doesn't matter if Katsu wants to stay here with them, so please don't fight with Honda over her... Seto?" He looked up at his brother, pleadingly.

Everyone could see how tense and upset Katsu and Honda were. Seto was enjoying himself; it was like a boardroom stand-off – and he always won those. "It's not that simple Mokuba," he growled. He had come to the conclusion that if she were to choose them, he would take that as a rejection of his offer for her to move in, and as much as it would hurt, he would be forced to finish with her. But he would not let his emotions show in public.

Katsu had just about had enough of this. Honda and Seto were both being pathetic jerks. They didn't own her and had no right to force her to choose. "Screw all of you!" She yelled, throwing her hands in the air. "You all think you know what's best for me?! Well, fuck you all, because you don't! How can you possibly know what I feel like?!" She screamed, gesturing to herself.

Honda opened his mouth to try to explain that he was only doing this for her own good, but she silenced him.

"Shut it Honda!" She knew she was sounding more like Jonouchi, but she was suddenly past caring. So what if Kaiba found out. All of a sudden, that was starting to feel far more preferable than everyone fighting over her. A crowd of amused onlookers had also gathered, and were wondering what was going on, but she was on a roll and didn't care. "You can all do what the fuck ya like! I'm going home." She gave the finger to a couple of onlookers that thought it was funny enough to laugh, and then turned away to leave.

Yugi could not stand to see his friend upset like this and reached to grab her sleeve. He opened his mouth and almost muttered Jonouchi but thankfully, the words faltered on his tongue. Katsu turned around and winked at him.

"It alright Yugi. I'm not angry with you. It's these two knuckle headed morons I'm angry at." She turned away from him again and stomped back down the path towards the exit.

As she passed Seto, he put his arm out to stop her but she swerved around it and kept walking. He kept quiet. If there was one thing Seto Kaiba did not like, it was being made a fool of in public. The last thing he wanted was for her to dump him in front of the dweeb squad and the crowd of onlookers. Instead, he turned to Honda and levelled the blame at him. "This is all down to your moronic behaviour," he snarled.

Honda shook his head. "You don't have a clue," he growled.

Meanwhile, Yugi and Anzu were watching Katsu walking away. "It's okay Yugi. I will deal with this," Anzu reassured her friend. She rounded on Honda and Seto. "You are both idiots!" She scolded. "And as for you, Kaiba! You don't deserve her. She's far too good for you!" She turned and hurried down the path to catch up with her friend.

Mai jabbed a finger in Seto's chest as she passed him. "Don't even think about following."

Yugi wanted to go with them too, but girls problems were out of his comfort zone. Sure, he could listen to Anzu complaining about aching feet and how sexist men were – as if he didn't count. But he seldom knew what to say in response. There was no way he could deal with whatever emotions Katsu was suffering right now. He would leave Anzu and Mai to deal with her, while he tried to calm Honda down.

"What do you want to do Yugi?" Said Honda, his voice filled with exhaustion. "Not sure I can be bothered with the reptile house."

"Might take our minds off it," Yugi shrugged his shoulders. "But if you don't..."

"You're right," Honda interrupted, sighing, before marching into the reptile house.

Yugi followed him into the dingy, cave-like walkway in silence. The reptile house was designed to appear as though they were walking through a jungle cave. Along the walls, were glass fronted cases containing various different species of snakes, lizards, exotic frogs and spiders; each surrounded by their own familiar environment.

They stopped in front of a case containing chameleons. "Native to Madagascar, they change their appearance to suit their surroundings" Honda read from the label. He chuckled. "Remind you of someone?" he added, with a hint of irony.

Keeping his voice low, Yugi scratched his head. "I don't think you're referring to me and Bakura owning Millennium items, so I guess you mean Jonouchi. But I wouldn't describe him as a chameleon."

"Well, Katsu's changed Jonouchi's behaviour to suit her appearance." Honda's expression was pained. "I just don't understand why she would choose to date Kaiba?"

"I don't understand either," Yugi admitted. "I'm trying to, but it's not easy. I guess Katsu wants a life of her own, independent from Jonouchi. She knows her time here is short and wants to make the most of it. But that still doesn't make sense. It's like she doesn't care about all the bad things Kaiba has done."

"That's what I can't understand. She knows about it, but it's like she wants to pretend none of that stuff ever happened."

"You know me? I'm all for forgiveness," said Yugi, reflectively. "I forgave you and Jonouchi for bullying me. So perhaps she is doing the same for Kaiba." They moved on as a mother with a young girl came to stand fairly close to them.

Honda waited until they were out of earshot before continuing. "Yeah, but at least me and Jonouchi changed for the better. Kaiba will always be a bastard."

Yugi was not as convinced. "The other Me has more faith in Kaiba than I do, but I do still believe Kaiba can change his ways," he whispered, as someone else walked by.

Chewing his bottom lip, Honda glanced down at Yugi with a frown. "We can't just go along with it and let her date him though. What if something.. romantic happens?!" Fearing that Katsu might have already become too close to Kaiba, he grimaced. He could only hope that enough of Jonouchi's awareness remained in that thick skull to prevent anything intimate from happening. "Do you think Jonouchi is aware?"

"It depends on the type of Shadow Magic Bakura used. At first, he was, but I don't think he knows what is happening anymore." Yugi was certain that his friend would never have allowed Katsu to get so close to Kaiba if he was aware.

Honda nodded at his much shorter pal. "My worry is that he does know, but can't do anything about it." He nodded at Yugi's pendant. "But you know more about the sort of weird stuff those items are capable of than I do."

Yugi clasped the pendant in his hands and tilted it up slightly to look into its eye. He felt a warm, soothing tingle tickle his palms. "I don't know that much. It's only recently that I have started getting to know the other Me properly. He doesn't know very much about the items either and has no memories of his past. But we both believe that the Items are all connected. They seem to be drawn to each other. But they have different abilities, and in the wrong hands they are dangerous. I think, that somehow, Jonouchi has been locked away by Bakura's spell and Katsu is what he would be if he had been born a girl."

"Yeah, now you mention it. When I looked into her eyes earlier, it was like looking into a different soul. She really is a new person."

"I think so too. She still has his memories, but is not him." Yugi frowned. "I guess we have to try and be understanding."

They both gave this a few moments of thought as they continued to the end of the displays.

Honda suddenly let out a sigh. "Man... I seriously screwed up today, didn't I? I hope she forgives me."

"I'm sure she will," Yugi replied, positively. "And I'm sure everything will work out in the end."

Honda acknowledged his diminutive friend with a small shake of the head and a smile. Whatever adversity was thrown at him, Yugi always managed to remain optimistic.

In the past, he had treated Yugi badly for his naïve optimism. When Yugi had tried to be friends with him, he had responded by pushing him around. When Yugi did not fight back, he had picked on him by forcing him to spend his own money on things like porno magazines, which he knew would embarrass him. He felt pretty shitty about it all now, and even though Yugi had told him it was all water under the bridge and didn't matter, Honda would never completely forgive himself for being such a jerk. He had prejudged Yugi as a pathetic wimp with no backbone. But Yugi had the strongest backbone of them all, and was the most honourable, respectful, forgiving person he had ever met.

Some of Yugi's good nature had definitely rubbed off on him and he was definitely a better person for knowing Yugi. He would prove it by apologising and offering much better support to Katsu than he had shown so far.

He just hoped that Katsu's temper was not as fiery as Jonouchi's could be and that she had calmed down enough to forgive him. "Can you send Anzu a message for me Yugi? Tell her we're coming over to her house. I want to make it up to Katsu."

Obliging as ever, Yugi agreed.

::::::::::::

What had started out as an attempt to socialise in a place full of common people, had been a disaster for Seto. It had only served to confirm why he always avoided mingling with the general public and doing the sort of boring activities they participated in. But he had done it on a whim – which was very unlike him – partly because Mokuba was always nagging him to do things that 'normal' people do and partly because he wanted to see if could deal with what it would be like if he and Katsu became a regular couple. He had been foolishly prepared to change himself to suit her, but now he was not so sure that was a good idea. He had now come to the conclusion, that if she did move into the mansion, she would have to bend to suit his lifestyle. He was sure she would comply. What woman wouldn't if it meant that she could have a luxurious lifestyle with the most eligible bachelor in Japan?

"I hope Katsu forgives you Seto," Mokuba suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence in the back of the limo.

"For what exactly?" He responded, slightly tersely.

"Well," Mokuba hesitated. "You and Honda did get a bit..." He faltered when Seto shot him an unamused look.

"I wasn't the one putting on a silly display of overprotective friendship. It re-affirms my view that Katsu should not be wasting her time with those idiots. The sooner she moves in with us and they stop having any influence over her, the better."

"Do you think she will move in with us?"

"Of course. She is a fool and not worth bothering with if she doesn't." He folded his arms and the tone of his voice told Mokuba that this conversation was done.

It left Mokuba feeling a little worried. Their early life experience, followed by the brutality inflicted on him by their stepfather, had caused Seto to build a protective shell around his emotions. Even after Yugi had fragmented Seto's mind and left him in a coma to re-build himself, the protective shell had still remained intact.

But since meeting Katsu, small chinks in his wall had begun to appear, and the lively, fun loving big brother that Mokuba barely even remembered, was slowly starting to re-emerge. If Katsu did not move in or ended the relationship, Mokuba feared that the protective shell may become even more impenetrable.

::::::::::::

At first, Katsu had been a bit offhand and ignored Anzu and Mai's attempts to comfort her.

She had fast marched to the bus stop.

They waited for nearly six minutes before the bus arrived, and in that time, Katsu hardly said a word.

Mai was silent too, but Anzu kept on saying that she was sorry the boys had to behave like idiots.

Katsu grunted and shrugged, but did not agree or disagree with her.

They got on the bus, showed their tickets and chose a seat. The bus was not crowded at this time of day so they had the pick of where they sat and chose a seat at the back, out of earshot of the few elderly passengers who had chosen to sit near the front.

It was so unlike Jonouchi to sulk. He always wore his heart on his sleeve and was an open book, so to have Katsu sulking and being surly, just felt wrong. It just went to prove how far removed she was becoming from her male counterpart.

"It's so unlike you. I wish you would say something?" Said Anzu.

Visibly deflating, Katsu turned to her. "What's there to say? I may not be Jonouchi, but I have his gift for completely fucking up!"

"Jonouchi never...!" Anzu began but then changed track. "Okay, well, he does muddle through sometimes. But no, you're not him. You are you, and what happened today was not your fault. It was Honda's. He's really struggling, you know?"

A pang of guilt suddenly tugged at her insides and Katsu sagged. "Yeah, I think you're right. I should have gone easy on him. It didn't help that I lied to him and told him I only saw Kaiba that one time, just to get an expensive meal."

Mai rolled her eyes. Just like Jonouchi, she would do anything for food. "You need to talk to Honda."

"I dunno if I can face him." Katsu looked at Mai, desperate for help. "What do I say?"

Mai shrugged. "Just apologise! He's not a total idiot. I'm sure he wants to understand, but you two have known each other for as long as.. well, for ever!"

"Yeah... and as soon as this happens to me, he acts like a jerk!"

Anzu pursed her lips and chewed on her cheek. They were both being jerks. How could she explain this so that Katsu could understand? It suddenly came to her. "Imagine the situation is reversed. You are still Jonouchi and Honda suddenly changes sex. How would Jonouchi react?"

Katsu nodded as she considered the question. Jonouchi would most likely freak out over it. He would struggle to understand and make crass jokes as a way of trying to deal with it. He would probably call Bakura out and demand that the spirit faces him like a man, and would threaten to beat him up if he did not reverse the spell. He would probably make things worse by accidentally blabbing the truth in public and revealing Honda's identity.

"He wouldn't give Honda the same shit he's giving me,"she concluded, defensively.

"I'm not so sure about that," said Anzu, sceptical of Katsu's answer. But she could see that it had made Katsu think about the way Honda was behaving.

The bus pulled up at the stop nearest to Anzu's house and they got off. It took roughly six minutes to walk the rest of the way to Anzu's house.

"Maybe you should call Yugi and tell him to bring Honda back here so we can talk," Katsu suggested.

Anzu raised an eyebrow at the suggestion. "I'm not the one who upset him. Why don't you ring him?"

Katsu was apprehensive. "I don't know! It will sound better coming from you."

"Why do I always have to be peacekeeper between you two?!" Anzu huffed with exasperation.

"Please? Just this once..." Katsu pleaded.

"Honestly!" Mai gestured with exasperation. "What's with you?" She scolded. "You're just as bull headed as Jonouchi. Why will neither of you ever apologise or admit the other is wrong?"

"It's pride," Katsu admitted. "I might be female, but I still have pride."

"More like stupid ego," Anzu sighed. "Okay, just this once. I will call Yugi and tell him to bring Honda here."

She was just about to pull her phone out when she received a message from Yugi, telling her that he and Honda were just leaving the zoo and would be coming over on Honda's motorcycle, shortly.

"They're already on their way," she told Katsu, opening the front door to her house and stepping inside.

::::::::::::

They took their drinks up to Anzu's room and closed the door so that her parents would not hear their sensitive conversation. Luckily for them, her parents just thought they were being typical teenagers and left them alone.

The atmosphere between them was far more awkward than it ever had been; it was even more awkward than when Jonouchi had lifted Anzu's skirt up, or when he and Honda used to pick on Yugi and Anzu would threaten them over it.

Honda placed his tea on Anzu's desk. "I guess I owe you girls an apology for earlier." He grimaced slightly and rubbed the side of his face with the pads of his fingers. "I probably acted like an over protective jerk."

"Probably?!" Katsu snorted loudly, only to be elbowed by Mai.

"You're supposed to be making up, remember?" She hissed.

"Yeah," Katsu looked guilty. "Sorry Honda. But..." She was tempted to confirm that he was an over protective jerk, but would only get a lecture. "But I don't need you to worry. I can make my own decisions."

"Or mistakes," Honda could not resist interjecting.

Anzu rolled her eyes. "Forgiveness guys..." she groaned.

"Yeah, come on guys. We're not making any progress here," Yugi added.

"If we're to make any progress, Katsu has got to stop seeing Kaiba," Honda answered.

"Let's all sit in a small circle so we can talk properly," Anzu suggested. "That way, we can each take it in turns to speak, and no one is allowed to interrupt."

They nodded in agreement and all sat cross legged on the floor, facing inwards, in a circle.

"I will go first," Anzu decided. "I admit that I'm worried about Katsu seeing Kaiba, but I think it would be unfair to force her to stop seeing him if she really and genuinely likes him. We will just have to trust her to have good judgement and not do anything that Jonouchi will live to regret."

Honda let out a groan of disapproval and opened his mouth to speak, but Anzu put her hand up. "It's Yugi's turn next."

"I agree with Anzu, kind of," he said, tentatively. "But I want Katsu to promise that she will not," he blushed with embarrassment, "do anything." In his mind, he heard his other Self urging him to speak his own mind and not just agree with everyone else.

"You'll have to be more specific than that Yugi," Mai snickered, even though she knew what he was trying to say.

"It's not your turn to speak, Mai." Honda glared at her.

Agreeing with his alter ego, Yugi pulled his posture up to sit taller and looked straight at Katsu. "Okay, I don't completely agree with Anzu. I think you should stop seeing Kaiba. I really like you Katsu and I am sad that you can't have your own life. But I know that Jonouchi is still deep inside you somewhere, and he is my friend. I don't want him permanently scarred because you end up in Kaiba's bed!"

Mai raised an eyebrow at his directness, while Anzu gasped.

Katsu just stared at him with a hurt expression. Yugi cringed slightly and his posture sagged back to it's normal state.

Honda clapped his hands and nodded. "Wow! Way to go Yugi. Just what I wanted to say."

Clearing her throat, Anzu felt her face heat slightly at how this debate was turning out. "Do you have anything to add Honda? It's your turn."

"You bet I do." He looked straight at Katsu. "Tell me the truth Katsu. How far have you gone with Kaiba?"

"What?! That's way out of line," Katsu squawked.

"Just answer the question," Mai grumbled. She was really getting fed up with this childish behaviour.

Katsu scowled. "I haven't done anything, Okay?! And even if I had, it's none of your damn business."

"It is my business, because I will have to deal with the fallout," said Honda, with a serious expression. "What do you think it would do to Jonouchi?"

"And Kaiba," Yugi added. "Because he would be affected by any romantic encounter too."

"Can I explain something to you all?" Katsu raised her voice, causing them all to fall silent and look at her. "I am not Jonouchi. I can't explain what has happened to him because I don't know. But I am ME."

They all stared at her in stunned silence, so she continued her rant. "Yes, I can remember everything that happened to him growing up: I know my sister has poor eyesight and that he went to Duelist Kingdom to fight for her. I know that Yugi is giving my family the money for her operation to fix her eyes. I know that Kaiba has been cruel to Jonouchi in the past. But he's not like that with me. I have seen another side of him; a kind generous, playful side."

At that disclosure, her friends all pulled faces like squeezed lemons.

"But," she added, "I can assure you that as much as I like him, I have resisted his advances because I know that deep down inside, I am still Jonouchi. Like you, I worry that when I disappear, he will wake up and remember it like some sort of nightmare. And because of that I have kept Kaiba at arms length."

There was an awkward silence between them all.

The silence was finally broken by Honda. "So, what do you intend doing? According to Bakura's guess, you have between one and two more weeks."

Katsu smiled sadly. "I been thinking about that. Seto Kaiba has asked me to move into the mansion with him." This was met with gasps. She put her hand up to placate them. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna. If I had a choice, of course I would accept. But I don't have a choice because as much as I want my own life, it is not mine to enjoy." Sniffing, she wiped away a sad tear and forced a smile. "Besides, I don't want to fuck up Jonouchi's life any more than he's already tried to do himself! Him and Me are lucky to have you all as friends."

Crying. Anzu reached out to squeeze Katsu's hand.

Blinking back his own tears, Honda took the other hand. "I'm sorry I gave you such a hard time. If there's anything I can do to help, just ask," He smiled weakly and looked at the emotion on his friends faces. He now understood how important it was for them to not be at odds over this. Katsu would soon be gone for good and their likeable goof-ball, but rough around the edges pal, would soon be back.

And when he returned, he would need his friends to be on good terms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting closer to the end of this story now. Maybe two chapters to go.
> 
> Please review/kudos etc...


	20. Fresh Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having patched things up with Honda, Katsu braves going to school in order to escape the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was at an open water swim event for most of yesterday and didn't have time to publish the chapter yesterday, so here it is a day late.  
> Hope you enjoy.

Breakfast in the Mazaki household was considered one of the most important meals of the day. Despite her father often leaving the house early, and her mother also working, there was always a nourishing breakfast prepared and laid out on the table.

"Morning..." Anzu smiled sleepily as she staggered into the dining room. It was tough getting up early on a Monday after a busy weekend.

She faltered in the doorway when she saw that Katsu was already up and seated at the table, with a big bowl of miso broth in front of her.

Anzu was surprised to see she was dressed and ready for school. Katsu had been adamant that she would not be attending, so why the sudden change in heart? Anzu had to do a double take and pinched herself to ensure she was not still dreaming.

"Good morning sweetheart." Mrs Mazaki scooped some rice and vegetables onto a plate and ladled some miso broth into a bowl, before placing them on the table for her daughter. "Are you okay?" Her mother gave her a puzzled look. Her daughter was staring at Katsu like she had grown a pair of horns during the night!

Anzu blinked and nodded rapidly. "Oh! Yes! Er.. thanks Mum. I'm fine." Anzu scurried to her seat and sat down.

"I need to be in early today, so I have to rush off," her mother informed her, "But don't forget to help yourself to some tamagoyaki." She placed what was left of the Japanese omelet, on a plate in the centre of the table and left them to finish their breakfast.

Anzu turned to Katsu. "It's good to see you're coming to school today Katsu. But can I ask why the sudden change of mind? I thought you were adamant you wouldn't be going."

"Yeah... After our little bit of group therapy yesterday, I'm feeling more positive. This is a fresh start. I'm also fed up with sitting around at home by myself every day." Clearing the air with Honda had just been the first step. Now she wanted to be accepted into the classroom – at least until Jonouchi returned.

The probability of Seto Kaiba turning up at the house to demand she pack her stuff and move in with him was also niggling at her. He could be very dogmatic, especially when it came to getting his own way, and she did not know how to tell him that she was ending their relationship without it causing a scene. "I'm also trying to avoid Seto." She wished she didn't have to avoid him, but it was for the best, wasn't it?

"You think he will come here to get you? You can always say no!"

"Have you ever tried saying 'no' to Kaiba?" She should never have let herself become so involved. Jonouchi and Kaiba could barely stand to be in the same room together, let alone be living under the same roof, and romantically involved. If she moved in and then turned back into Jonouchi, it would be... Her blood ran cold just thinking about it. "Imagine what might happen if I changed back?!"

Anzu noticed her shudder and felt her own skin crawl in response. She frowned. "I'm not sure I want to think about that! But what if he's at school?"

Katsu shrugged. "He hasn't been to school since Yugi mind crushed him. I don't expect him to suddenly turn up now! Do you?"

Anzu snorted lightly. "You're probably right. I think he's decided school is not good enough for him anyway." She took a final sip of her tea and then glanced at the time. "We should clear the plates and get going. I said I would call round for Yugi by eight thirty. We will also need to go to the office when we get there to make sure you are enrolled."

Not wanting to waste her soup, Katsu picked up the bowl and slurped the rest, spattering some of it onto the table cloth.

Anzu rolled her eyes. Katsu might be adamant that she was not Jonouchi, but she still displayed many of his traits.

They quickly tidied away the breakfast things and grabbed their school bags, before putting on their shoes and setting off.

Marching quickly, so as not to be late, Katsu found herself feeling quite comfortable in her Domino girls uniform. The skirt was supposed to be worn at knee length but almost all of the girls rolled the waistband over so that they could wear it shorter. She was feeling confident enough in her body to hitch up her own skirt. And why not? She had a good pair of pins!

As usual, Yugi was running late. The dishevelled looking boy came running down stairs and out of the shop, still munching on his toast. His shirt was half tucked in and he had crumbs all over his collar, which was sticking up and twisted. His hair was also sticking out more untidily than usual because he had not been able to tame it into its usual sculpted spikes. The girls suspected he had been up late chatting to his other self about duel strategies.

These little details about him were always things that Jonouchi took for granted, and he always found it amusing how Anzu would always fuss over Yugi's appearance like she was his wife.

Yugi came running over to them, looking surprised to see that Katsu was with Anzu and was dressed in her school uniform. "Katsu?"

"Yeah, thought it was about time I made the effort. Jonouchi's grades stink enough as it is." She sounded flippant, but underneath, was feeling anything but – his grades really did stink.

As predicted, Anzu rolled her eyes and started brushing the crumbs off Yugi's blazer, before straightening his collar for him.

Yugi pouted and pretended to be irritated. "I can do it myself!" He complained.

Katsu found it amusing and suspected he had left his collar sticking up deliberately, in order to get her attention. This would be perfect teasing ammunition for when Jonouchi returned.

Yugi shoved the rest of his toast in his mouth and they started walking. His cheeks bulged like a hamster as he attempted to chew the overly large mouthful.

Anzu tutted at him and rolled her eyes. "Yugi!" She groaned. "You will end up with indigestion!"

Swallowing his toast, Yugi grinned at her sheepishly and took his bottle of water from his backpack to help wash it down. "I never get indigestion," he grinned, taking a swig.

Keen to change to subject, he turned to Katsu. "What made you decide to come to school Katsu?"

Katsu considered the question for a moment. How much to confess. "I couldn't put it off forever," she explained. "Jonouchi can't afford to slip further behind and I think I'm more intelligent than him so I can help him catch up."

Both Yugi and Anzu giggled. "And how does that work exactly?" Anzu enquired. "Surely your brain has exactly the same level of stupidity as his!"

Katsu scowled at them both laughing. "I'm not kidding! All he thinks about is games, fighting, girls and food. While I don't think of any of those things. Which leaves me free to be acidemic."

"Acidemic?" Anzu giggled. "Don't you mean academic?"

Yugi also chuckled. It seemed Katsu was no more brainy than Jonouchi was.

Katsu shot them both a what the heck are you laughing about glare. "Yeah, that's what I said," she snapped, indignantly.

They arrived at school with fifteen minutes to spare before the bell. Katsu's stomach was doing flips as they walked through the gates. People were looking at her. She wanted to turn and flee.

"I don't think I can do this," she said, shakily.

"Relax." Anzu threaded her arm around Katsu's. "Just behave like a regular teenage girl." Anzu glared and pointed at a group of four boys that were leering at them. "What a bunch of losers they are," she said to Katsu, sticking her nose in the air.

Katsu stuck her finger up at them and the boys immediately looked shamed and turned away. "That's how I deal with losers," she winked at Anzu.

"Thanks! I will try to remember that." Anzu pursed her lips at Katsu's approach. This was either going to go really well, or was going to become their worst nightmare.

Beside them, Yugi frowned. Was that why most of the girls here always laughed at him when he looked in their direction? Maybe if he came to school as his other Self he would have more luck.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that Aibou," The spirit found some of the girls here terrifying!

Yugi chuckled to himself. "You weren't meant to hear that thought Other Me. And they're not that scary!"

"Maybe not, but some are definitely a little crazy." He vanished back into the Puzzle so as not to distract Yugi from his education.

After visiting the office to confirm Katsu's enrolment as a temporary student, they went to class.

"I just thought of something," Anzu whispered. "I hope they don't check up and find you don't exist on any school records in Japan!"

Katsu had not thought of that. But it was too late to start worrying now. It was probably the least of her concerns anyway.

Now she had to face Jonouchi's classmates.

Honda and Bakura were both already inside the classroom and were shocked to see Katsu. Honda played it cool, while Bakura cringed and sat hunched over his desk looking nervous.

Honda bowed politely. "It is good to welcome you to our class, Katsu."

Relieved that he was behaving sensibly, she smiled. "Thank you Honda. I am honoured to be here."

Anzu nudged her. "You should talk to Bakura. He doesn't look too well."

"Yeah," Katsu nodded and made her way to Ryou's desk. "Hey!"

Ryou looked up sheepishly. "I, I hope you are well?"

Katsu winked at him. "I'm not angry with you," she said, quietly. "Still friends?"

Ryou's face flooded with relief. However, his fan-girls bored holes into the beautiful, long legged, busty blonde bombshell.

"Thank you Katsu. But... tell Jonouchi that I'm so sorry for hiding away and not doing more to help."

"It's okay, he's not angry with you either," she smiled.

"Friends?" Bakura pleaded.

"Yeah, of course we are!" Because of her close proximity to Ryou, the fan-girls were closing in with sharpened nails. She suddenly felt threatened. Hands on hips, she stood tall and glared down at the Bakura fan-girls menacingly. "What are you lot looking at? Get lost!"

The fan-girls flinched. There was something about this new girl that told them she was not to be messed with. Muttering about her being a bitch and a slut, they slunk off to their desks.

Students were flooding into the classroom now. To avoid any awkwardness, Katsu asked Anzu where she should sit. Of course, she already knew which was Jonouchi's desk, but she did not wish to make it obvious to the students who had not met her, that she did.

Anzu pointed at Jonouchi's empty desk and spoke clearly so that people nearby would hear her. "You may sit here Katsu. It is your cousins desk, but since he will be away for another two weeks, it is vacant."

Tomoya Hanasaki came over to say hello. "N.. Nice to meet you Katsu," he stuttered and bowed, cheeks pink. "I.. I am Tomoya Hanasaki. Jonouchi is my friend. I must say, the family resemblance is remarkable."

Katsu tried to avoid sounding nervous. "Thank you Hanasaki. It is remarkable. It's nice to meet you too."

Around them, she could see the other students looking intrigued. Shit! This was awkward. She was trying so hard not to blush.

Anzu saw how tense she was and reached across to squeeze her hand. "You are doing fine," she mouthed.

The teacher walked in and was pleasantly surprised to see that he had a new student in his class.

Katsu knew what was coming next – the dreaded introduction.

Apart from having to stand up and introduce herself to the class, the morning was a doddle. Everyone sat at their desks and concentrated on their studies. But Katsu knew that her classmates were curious to know the girl who was related to Jonouchi.

The moment the bell went for lunch, her desk was surrounded by drooling boys, all eager to get to know the tall, busty, athletic looking blonde bombshell who had joined their class.

"Will you come on a date with me?"

"I'm in love!"

"Oi! Get in line. I asked her first!"

They were crowding her and all talking at once. It was suffocating, and Katsu had to put her hands over her ears to keep herself from screaming at them.

She was saved by the cavalry. "Get away from her you morons!" Honda bellowed, elbowing them out of the way.

Anzu appeared at her side and was pushing drooling boys away. "You gormless idiots! Leave the poor girl alone! You are overwhelming her."

Yugi squeezed under Anzu's outstretched arm and grabbed her hand. "Come on Katsu. Let's go and eat our lunch somewhere else." He pulled her from her seat and they beat a hasty retreat. Behind them, Honda and Anzu barred the doorway to prevent anyone following.

The moment they had all made it safely to the roof, Katsu sighed. "Now I know what you have to go through every day with your fan girls Bakura!"

"I find the best way is to ignore them," Ryou replied.

"They're all idiots!" Anzu huffed, feeling peeved. She would never admit it in front of them, but she was actually a little jealous that Katsu was attracting fan-boys. It was not that she lusted after any of the boys in question, it was more on principle.

Honda started laughing. "And none of them have the slightest idea about you."

Even Katsu had to chuckle. It was really funny when she thought about it. Jonouchi was desperate to learn how to attract fan-girls, without any success. But as Katsu, she made no effort and was surrounded by fan-boys! She just could not understand it. "What have I got that Jonouchi hasn't?" She gestured, as if her friends held the answers.

Honda thought that he did have at least part of the answer: he squeezed his own chest and pretended to jiggle imaginary boobs. "You've got a big pair of these," he smirked.

Katsu frowned at him."Yeah, but Anzu has them too, and she doesn't get boys lusting after her."

"Thanks a bunch!" Anzu huffed, offended.

Yugi sensed that Anzu was a little upset and intervened. "I don't think it's just that," he explained. "I think it has something to do with Katsu being tall and blonde – she looks different: all the other girls in class have dark hair."

Anzu smiled sweetly at him. "Thank you for trying to make me feel less ugly Yugi," she teased. "You're right,"

Honda scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Katsu does look a bit different. They probably think her blonde hair is exotic, in the same way that Bakura also looks exotic."

Bakura would never have thought of himself as exotic and found that amusing. "I think the reason girls like me is because I am half English and spent much of my childhood there. For some reason, the girls here think that English men are romantic!" He scrunched his nose up in displeasure.

"It's that accent," Honda huffed, wishing he could speak English more fluently.

"Well, I think it's probably best if you just ignore them," Yugi suggested to Katsu. "Then maybe they will get bored and leave you alone."

"Or just act like Jonouchi," Honda smirked. "That'll get rid of them!"

Katsu snarled at him like Jonouchi would normally do. "You and your stupid suggestions! You trying to get me killed or something?" She launched herself at him and started beating him up.

Usually, Honda would fight back, but... Katsu was a girl! He could never hit a girl. "Help! Get her off me?!" He squealed, putting his arms up to defend himself.

Grumbling, she backed off and straightened her blouse. "You're no fun! I prefer it when you fight back," she pouted.

"Well, if you behave like that in the classroom, you will definitely frighten your fan-boys," Anzu concluded.

"I think we should hurry-up and eat our lunch," Ryou suggested. "We only have twenty minutes before we have to go back to class."

Everyone groaned.

::::::::::::

When lessons finally ended for the day, Katsu was more than ready to beat a hasty retreat. The saucy looks from boys. The dirty looks from Bakura's jealous fan-girls; they were all too much.

They left the classroom and made it to the lockers as quickly as they could before the other students got there.

One chancer ran after them and stopped in front of her at the shoe racks. "Katsu," he was breathing heavily from rushing and also with nerves. "Will you come on a date with me?"

Katsu gave the boy an incredulous glare, causing him to shrink. "Sorry!" She snapped. "I already have a boyfriend." Smirking, she grabbed Honda's hand. "Honda is my boyfriend."

Honda almost let out a shriek, but contained himself and loomed over the other boy. "Yeah, that's right. Katsu is my girl, so get lost."

The boy blushed and bowed meekly, continually apologising as he backed away and then fled.

"You owe me one," Honda hissed.

Anzu rolled her eyes at them. "Let's get out of here before any more would be Romeo's get any ideas."

They made it as far as the school gates without further incident.

"Does anyone want to go to the arcade and hang out for a bit?" Yugi suggested.

"Sorry Yug. But I've had enough excitement for one day. I just wanna get home," said Katsu, wearily.

They were about to begin walking when Honda spotted a limousine parked across the street. His eyebrows knotted together with concern. "Hey! Katsu! Looks like someone has come to give you a lift home." He pointed to where the silver blue stretch limo was parked, with the KC logo in gold lettering on the front passenger door.

Katsu pushed her taller friend in front of her. "Oh crap! Hide! I don't wanna see him right now."

"Where can we hide?" Yugi looked around. "There's only one way out of school. He's bound to spot us."

"But I don't wanna deal with him right now! He's gonna want his answer and I don't know what to say."

Honda frowned at her assertively. "Just tell him you don't wanna see him any more."

Anzu was also studying her with concern. "You can't keep putting it off."

"If it helps? Why don't we all come with you!" Yugi suggested.

Katsu's face brightened. "Yeah! That's a good idea Yugi. He won't dare ask with you all there."

Agreeing that it might be the only solution, they all walked over to the waiting limo. The driver got out to open the door for Katsu.

Before the driver could stop them, everyone piled in. They were somewhat relieved to see that Seto was not inside.

"Miss Katsu," the driver said through the partitioning screen that separated the front of the car from the rear. "Mister Kaiba is working, but he has asked me to drive you to the mansion. He wishes for your company at dinner this evening. Your friends are not invited."

"Thanks! Can you give us all a lift back home first? I at least need to change outta these clothes," Katsu responded.

"Very well Miss." The limo drove away, leaving many of their class mates gawking. It was not everyday Kaiba gave his former class mates a ride home.

They all disembarked at Anzu's house and the driver said that he would wait for Katsu to get ready.

Once indoors, Katsu turned to her friends. "I'm not going back out there."

"Not sure that he will let you get away with that!" Honda reasoned, sarcastically.

"Yugi, you'll help me, won't you? Go outside and tell him I'm sick."

Yugi fidgeted awkwardly. He doubted that the driver would believe him. Just moments ago, Katsu had been the picture of health and radiance. "Not sure that will work," he frowned.

"Tell him it came on suddenly. Tell him I'm chucking my guts up and can't get off the toilet."

"Don't be ridiculous Katsu." Anzu gave her a stern look. "You have to go and tell Kaiba it's over, otherwise it will just drag on until you suddenly change back into Jonouchi."

"Then that will solve a problem, won't it?" Katsu snapped, irritably.

Honda was beginning to lose patience with her. "It won't solve anything! What do you think is going to happen if you keep stringing him along?"

"Nothing! That's what. In a week or so, I will be gone! You will have Jonouchi back and you can all get on with your lives and forget I existed."

"Katsu," said Anzu, gently. "Even if Jonouchi wants us to, we won't forget you. But if you want your remaining time to be less stressful, you do need to resolve this issue with Kaiba."

"She's right," Yugi added, sympathetically. "If you keep seeing him and then vanish into thin air and Jonouchi suddenly reappears, he might get suspicious. He might start searching for you. And what do you think might happen if he finds there's no such person as Katsu Kawai? Kaiba's not stupid. He will dig until he finds the truth. But if you dump him, his pride will make him get over you. He will throw himself back into his work and pretend he never met you."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Honda agreed.

There was a knock at the door. Thinking that it was the driver wanting to know how long Katsu would be, Anzu went to answer it and was surprised to find Mai standing on the doorstep, with a worried frown on her face. "Is the limo for who I think it is?" She asked, eyebrows knotted in concern..

"Yup! Typical Kaiba; won't take no for an answer," said Honda, pointedly.

"Oh!" Mai frowned. "You're not seriously considering..."

"NO!" Katsu shouted, cutting her off mid sentence. "Why does everyone seem to think they know what's best for me? I can make my own decisions." She paused to take a breath and her friends all started muttering their apologies and reasons.

They were all trying to talk at once so she put her hand up to stop them. "I appreciate your concern. But it's none of your business what I do! I've made my decision. I am gonna woman up and tell Kaiba to his face that I can't move in with him, and that I think it's best we stop seeing each other. I will tell him my parents want me to go home." Her head was telling her that it was the right thing to do, but at the same time her heart was breaking. But her friends were oblivious to her pain.

"What if he won't accept that?" Honda asked.

"Yeah, Kaiba can be an obstinate asshole." Mai added.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Anzu offered.

"Nah," Katsu sniffed and shook her head. "Thanks for the offer Anzu, but I can handle it."

"You sure about that?" Said Yugi, with concern. "This is Kaiba we're talking about: the guy that held you and me hostage in his mansion, just so that he could force us to participate in Death-T!"

"Yeah, I know, Yugi. I remember. But please don't worry about me. It's not like he's gonna force me into anything. He respects women more than that! I'll be okay."

"Well, if you say so." Yugi doubted Kaiba would harm Katsu, but then, what did he know? He couldn't really judge other guys by his own standards. But if Kaiba did hold her hostage and then found out that Katsu was Jonouchi, that might be a different matter. "I still think someone should go with you."

"No way! I'm not your usual helpless girl!" She could deal with this I the same way Jonouchi would.

"Yes way!" Mai retorted. "You walk in there and tell him he's history, what do you think he's gonna do?"

Katsu responded with a shrug. She really did not know. But he was unlikely to tell her they could still be friends.

Her stomach rumbled – she really wanted that delicious dinner. "I will talk to him over dinner." Eat first, dump Kaiba later.

"Exactly!" Mai huffed, irritated at her idiotic behaviour. "He's Seto Kaiba! He hates losing! He's not going to be nice about it, is he?"

"Well tell me what I should do, Miss Smart Arse?"

Mai snorted smugly; she had already decided what she would do. "I'm gonna follow you in my car and wait outside. Any problems with Kaiba, you call me right away."

"Honda should go with you Mai." Anzu suggested him because he knew how to fight.

"I will go too!" Yugi stated, quickly and assertively. "Kaiba won't argue with the other Me."

"Then I will go as well," Anzu decided.

They waited until Katsu had gone in the limo before squeezing into Mai's small Mazda sports car and following on behind. They parked in the street opposite the mansion, cut the lights and waited.

After half an hour, they were starting to wonder why she was taking so long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOps! A cliffhanger - sorry!  
> Thank you for reading. Please leave some kudos or a review; it is what inspires me to write.!


	21. Unresolved Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arriving at the mansion, Katsu fully intends to finish her relationship with Seto. But something is preventing her!  
> With her friends camped out in Mai's car, watching the mansion, she agrees to have dinner. However, things do not go very smoothly.  
> Cute Mokuba.  
> I could not resist adding some cute Yugi and Anzu either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are having a heatwave in the UK, meaning it is too nice to spend time indoors on my lap top reading through and editing. So, since this is hot off the press, please excuse any mistakes (or tell me about them).  
> Warnings: Some swearing and a bit of blood.

Arriving at the mansion, Katsu felt more nervous than she had ever felt before. She was even more nervous than when Jonouchi had been cornered by a gang five thugs when he was fourteen, and had narrowly escaped being beaten to death. She was even more afraid than when Jonouchi had been coerced into re-joining Hirutani and his gang of chimps, and then been strung up, beaten and zapped with cattle stunners.

Stifling a shudder, she stood at the front door and waited for it to be opened.

When Mokuba answered, she was surprised and knocked off her guard a little. Following her friends advice, she had made the decision to skip the delicious meal and tell Kaiba it was over, right here on the doorstep, before legging it home. "Oh! Er... Hi Mokuba!"

"Hey! Katsu. You look very nice." The young teen blushed at himself for giving her a compliment.

"Thank you..." She chuckled. "You're looking good yourself Mokuba. What's that on your clothes?"

Mokuba looked down at the splashes of chocolate, vanilla cream and strawberry sauce that were all over his sweatshirt. There were also prints on the thighs of his jeans where he had wiped his hands.

His blush deepened. "Oh! That's desert! I'm helping chef. He's letting me make you a special treat."

The resolve was suddenly knocked from Katsu. She could not possibly tell Kaiba it was over and then leave; Mokuba had gone to a lot of trouble and was clearly excited. It would leave him disappointed if she did not at least stay and enjoy the meal he had helped prepare. And just like Jonouchi, Katsu hated the thought of any food going to waste. "Wow! I hope it tastes as good as it looks on your clothes?" She teased.

"You bet it does!" He beamed. "Follow me? Seto's waiting in his study."

Katsu nodded and followed the boy to a room she had not been inside before.

Oak doors opened to reveal a large room with a table made from polished maple: so highly polished that Katsu could see her refection in its surface. One wall was lined, half with books and half with what must be at least one hundred games. The far wall consisted of sliding glass doors that could be opened up for access onto a patio. And on the remaining wall was a modern glass panelled gas fire, with imitation pebbles behind the glass. Above that, a huge flat screened monitor dominated, while on an adjacent shelf sat several different types of game consul. She looked around in awe.

"Like it?" asked Kaiba, with a slight smirk. "I like to play different games, with different formats. It helps me gauge what the competition is up to. There is some resistance, but it is my aim to eventually own all the major players in the gaming industry. Those that resist will merely fall by the wayside."

That sounded like a rather arrogant statement to Katsu. She did not think that Kaiba had more power than giants like Nintendo, Sony or Konami! But she would not put it past him to eventually become a major shareholder in those companies. "Yeah..." she muttered, nervously wringing her hands.

Seto gave her a confused look. "Relax! You look like you think I am going to bite your head off!"

"Do I? I'm just hungry," What a poor excuse. "I get a bit shivery when I'm hungry."

He turned to Mokuba, who was still hovering; eves-dropping in the doorway. "Can you ask Chef to start serving in five minutes?"

"Sure! Will do." Mokuba scurried back to the kitchen. Seto rolled his eyes in amusement and Katsu could see the love for his little brother reflected in them.

"He insisted on helping cook the dinner," Seto chuckled. "Apparently, he's made desert all on his own. He would not tell me what it is, but judging by the state of him I think I can guess on strawberry, chocolate and vanilla layered cake."

"I can't wait to taste it." She was not lying. On the rare occasion he could afford to buy luxuries, Jonouchi loved to go to the cake shop. She was sure her friends would understand her decision to stay.

On the way to the dining room, Seto paused and turned to her. He wanted this to be an enjoyable meal and sensed by her body language that something might be weighing on her mind.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Wha...! No!" Katsu snapped, almost a little too neurotically. "I'm... kay..." she faltered slightly. She should tell the truth. "I don't think I can move in with you," she blurted.

Seto's jaw tensed slightly but there was no adverse reaction from him. His jaw relaxed and he nodded thoughtfully. "I appreciate this is new to you, and I can understand if you are nervous. But I will not force myself on you. If you require more time, that is okay."

"Er... yeah! Thanks. I haven't had the courage to ask my parents yet." She felt the huge knot in her chest ease slightly. "They will probably say 'no' anyway."

He glanced at her with a raised eyebrow but did not pressure her further. If he offered them money, her parents would not be a problem.

::::::::::::

The streets in this affluent part of town were wide and lined with cherry trees. Parked under the cover of one, they were shielded from the glare of the nearest street-light and had a good view of the well lit mansion. It would be easily spot anyone who come outside.

Being the tallest, Honda sat in the front where there was more leg-room. Yugi and Anzu were in the back and were leaning between the front passenger seats with their eyes fixed on the gates.

The narrow gap between the front seats meant that they were very close to one another and Yugi felt his face heat up when her cheek pressed into the spiky hair on the side of his head. It felt... intimate.

"Yugi! Can't you squash your hair down or something? It keeps getting in my face." Her complaint made him deflate somewhat and he mumbled an apology.

Scraping a hand through his hair, he tried to flatten it but it didn't make much difference.

"Never mind," she sighed. "Try this." She took the silk bow from her school blouse and tied it around his head. It seemed to do the trick and they went back to their watching.

Thinking that no one could see him, Yugi took the end of the bow, that was hanging down near his cheek, and brought it to his lips. He could smell her scent and almost taste it – it was heavenly.

In her rear-view mirror, Mai caught a glimpse of him and could not prevent the amused snort and snicker that escaped her.

Thinking she had just seen something at the Kaiba mansion, all eyes snapped first towards her and the then on the gates.

"What? What did you see?" Honda demanded anxiously. She must have awesome eyesight because he could not see anything.

"Oh!" She pressed her hand over her mouth to try and stop her laughter. "No! Sorry," she winked. "Rear view mirror."

Yugi's eyes went wide with horror and embarrassment: she had seen him sniffing Anzu's silk scarf!

"What are you on about Mai?" Said Anzu, innocently looking around her. She spotted Yugi cringing. Even in the dark she could see how red his face was. "Did something happen Yugi?"

He tried to smile nicely at her, but he was sure it was more of an apologetic grimace than a smile. "No!" He gulped. "Nothing!" Praying Mai would not snitch on him, he caught her eye. Mai winked at him knowingly.

"Nothing to be embarrassed about," she explained. "I just caught a glimpse of you in my rear view mirror and thought the pair of you looked cute with your faces pressed together like that."

Honda rolled his eyes. "Quit teasing them Mai! We should be more concerned about how long Katsu is taking." He glanced at his watch. "It's been nearly twenty five minutes!"

"You don't think he's holding her prisoner, do you?" Said Mai, half tongue in cheek and half serious.

"Mai! Don't say things like that!" Anzu twisted to face Yugi and their noses brushed. The pair both flinched bashfully at the touch.

Regaining her composure, Anzu continued to ask. "Do you think Kaiba would be so stupid as to hold her prisoner Yugi?"

His mind distracted for a moment, he gazed back at her through the dark interior of the car. Her lips looked juicy and the way she chewed her bottom lip... A sharp jab to his mind from his other self snapped him back to reality. "I..!" It came out as a high pitched squeak, so he cleared his throat. "I don't know," he managed to say more levelly. "Kaiba's capable of anything, so I wouldn't put it past him."

"What should we do Yugi? I'm not happy to just sit here doing nothing!" Honda was all for going in there and demanding he let their friend go.

But Yugi did not think that was such a good idea – yet! "Has Katsu got her phone with her?" He asked Anzu.

"I think so." She understood what he was thinking. "I will text her and ask her what time she's coming home." She quickly sent a text. Several minutes went by before they received a reply.

::::::::::::

Katsu was just sitting down to enjoy her meal.

Mokuba had changed into a clean shirt and was insisting on playing waiter; all the while, dropping hints about how much he was looking forward to her moving in and how nice the room they had chosen for her was.

Seto rolled his eyes at his younger brother. "Mokuba! Would you please leave Katsu alone. You will frighten her off!"

"Seto!" The boy whined, before grinning at Katsu and persisting. "I can show you the room after dinner if you like?"

Before she could respond, her phone beeped loudly in her bag. Seto did not appear to hear her phone because he was ushering Mokuba out of the dining room to give him a lecture about not interfering in his love life.

Katsu had already guessed the message was from her friends, and as not surprised to see that they were waiting across the street and were worried.

She quickly replied. Go home guys. I'm ok. Enjoying food that Moki has helped cook so don't wanna leave and upset him. Kaiba not putting any pressure on me to move in. CU later x

Anzu pouted as she read the message out.

Honda thumped the dash in annoyance. "Fuck! Idiot! What the hell is she playing at? All she's gotta do is tell Kaiba she doesn't want to date him!"

Anzu defended her actions. "It's probably awkward. Mokuba has been through a lot, so I can understand that she doesn't want to say anything with him there; it might upset him."

"What's awkward about it? Jonouchi hates their guts and never has any problems speaking his mind!" Honda argued back.

Anzu groaned in frustration. "I thought we had been over that! Katsu is not the same person as Jonouchi!"

Honda slapped his forehead in frustration. "I wish you would all stop treating this like it's okay! It's not! It doesn't matter if she if a different person, she's still Jonouchi inside."

"But we don't know that he knows what is going on, do we Yugi?" Mai looked to Yugi to back her up.

Yugi frowned. He honestly did not know. All he could do was theorise using what limited knowledge he and his other self had of the Millennium Items. "I really don't have a clue," he admitted. "My best guess would be that Jonouchi has lost all control over what Katsu does. I have no idea if he knows what is happening or if he has any influence over her."

"If that's the case, she's now a loose cannon," Mai added. "Maybe she is just telling us what we want to hear and has no intention of finishing with him. Maybe Honda's right, we should storm in there before it's too late!"

"Do you think she's beeen lying to us?!" Anzu gasped.

Mai rolled her eyes. "Honey! When you've worked on cruise ships like I have, you would soon learn that people tell lies all the time in order to get laid."

"Not with Mokuba there!" Anzu squeaked, defensively.

"It's a big house. I'm sure they can avoid Mokuba," Honda seethed, through gritted teeth. His mind was made up. "I'm going in there to put a stop to this charade, now!"

"And what will you say?" Anzu challenged.

"Anzu's right Honda," Yugi added. "We can't just go and hammer on the door demanding he releases her. Not without rehearsing what we will say."

"I will message her again," said Anzu. Pulling out her phone, Anzu unlocked her key pad. "What should I say?"

"Remember your a dude and get your sorry ass out of there," Honda suggested, forcefully.

"Idiot!" Mai slapped him.

Meanwhile, Yugi was thinking of something a little more diplomatic to say. "How about: [How long will you be? We will wait for you. Suggest you tell him you have to go home as soon as you have eaten.] That way, she will know that we are looking after her."

"She will more likely think we're suffocating her!" Mai scoffed. "What do you think her reaction to us telling her what to do will be?"

Anzu groaned. "You're right Mai. I am pretty sure that deep down she likes him and wants to keep seeing him. She only agreed to end it to keep us happy and because she cares for Jonouchi. But if we're too pushy, she might rebel against us and do whatever she pleases."

"I think we should ask her how long she will be and if she wants us to wait?" said Mai.

"So that's it then. We can do nothing about it. What if she tells us not to wait?" Honda grumbled.

No one wanted to answer that.

Biting her lip, Anzu sent the message Mai had suggested. At least it sounded like an offer from friends, rather than a threat or a demand.

::::::::::::

When her phone beeped again Katsu was not sure whether to look at it or not. Across from her, Seto seemed more interested in his seared salmon fillet than her beeping phone. She reached into her bag and then hesitated. He looked up.

"Go ahead. Answer it. It's probably those dorks you've been hanging around with. They think I can't see them, but I know they are parked across the road. I have cameras everywhere." He snorted. "They probably think I'm feeding you rat poison."

Gulping, she put her knife and fork down. How dare he call her friends dorks! The memory of Jonouchi being poisoned was also still raw. Being here, in this room, brought it all back. "I think I just lost my appetite."

At first he looked a bit confused but it quickly dawned on him: Of course, the mutt was her cousin and he had just insulted the dork squad. She probably knew about Mokuba's mischievous little stunt as well. "If it helps. Mokuba is sorry about the way he behaved. He was actually trying to poison Yugi, your cousin just got in the way – as usual." He was so used to using sarcasm whenever he referred to Yugi and his friends that he was unable to keep it from his voice. He continued, unperturbed. "Mokuba was having some behavioural issues at the time and was trying to impress me." There was no remorse in his words. It was stated like a fact; as if it was okay to kidnap people, feed them poison and force them to play games where their lives depended upon the outcome.

"Well, it was a good job Yugi won then, wasn't it?" She snapped, abruptly. "I'm going home!" She downed the rest of her wine and stood up, throwing her napkin at him in disgust.

Wondering what he possibly could have said that was so offensive, he looked at her with a shocked expression. All he had done was state facts! Mirroring her action, he stood up as well. "Why are you getting so upset?" He growled. "It's not like you were there when it happened."

If only he knew. "Yeah, well it doesn't matter if I was there or not! Jonouchi's friends are my friends, and they deserve better than to have you slagging them off all the time. What the heck is wrong with you? It's like you've got some dirty great chip on your shoulder!"

She had hit a raw nerve with her comment and he flinched slightly. His face morphed into a spiteful scowl. How dare she! "You know nothing of the responsibilities or the burdens I have had to carry. So I suggest you keep quiet," he snarled.

"No! I won't keep quiet!" She was on a roll now. "Having a shit childhood is no excuse! Yugi and his friends have done nothing except help you, but you all you do is treat them like dirt! If it wasn't for Yugi, you and Mokuba would be rotting in a dungeon and Pegasus would be CEO of Kaiba Corp.!" Realising she had said too much she clamped her mouth shut. She could see the veins almost popping in his neck. His jaw looked tense and his left fist was clenched at his side while his right was shaking with rage around his wine glass.

"Don't you think I realise that?" He snarled. "Every time I see them the jagged scar of defeat and indebtedness festers and tears open just a little bit more. Until I..." He was squeezing his wine glass so tightly that it shattered, cutting his hand. "Shit!" He shook his hand out, dripping blood onto the white tablecloth. He turned it over to look at it and snorted. "Until I defeat Yugi, this is the wound I have to carry." Smirking at the blood welling up in his palm, he held it out towards her. The discomfort between him and Katsu, made him shiver with satisfaction.

Gasping, Katsu's eyes widened. He had hardly flinched when his hand was cut and almost seemed to be pleased with the statement his wound was making. "You fucking idiot!" She rushed round the table and picked up a spare napkin. "Let me see it?" She ordered. He pulled his hand away from her but she grabbed his wrist. "There might be glass in it." Jonouchi had smashed a pint glass over a guy's head once and had ended up with glass in his hand when the bottle shattered. He knew how to deal with his own wounds: the police had been looking for the gang members responsible, so he had dare not go to hospital to get his hand treated and had been forced to go to patch himself up with antiseptic wash, steri-strips and gauze. It had healed just fine.

Sighing, Seto let her take his fingertips. She pulled his hand open to look at the cut. It looked clean but was deep. "Can you feel all your fingers?" She squeezed each one to check for nerve damage.

"Yes," he groaned, sounding fed up. But he let her continue being his nurse.

The maid came in with Mokuba to see if they had finished eating their dinner and both let out frightened screams when they saw the blood.

"Seto!" Mokuba cried out, running over. "What happened?"

"Damn cheap wine glass!" He hissed.

Katsu didn't say anything, but continued wrapping his hand in the napkin.

"Is it bad?" Asked Mokuba, with a worried frown.

"Not too bad," Katsu smiled at him. "But it could use a couple of stitches."

"I will get the doctor," Mokuba stated.

"No!" Said Seto, abruptly. "I will wash it and bandage it so that we can finish dinner first. You made desert, didn't you?"

"But..." Mokuba began.

"No buts! I will clean this and get it stitched later."

Having forgotten about going home, and also her friends message, Katsu accompanied him to the bathroom.

He sat on a stool with his hand over the basin and let her wash and clean it. After several minutes it still refused to stop bleeding and they ended up having to use several dressings before it appeared to stem the flow.

Katsu opened her mouth, and was about to start explaining how she had cut her hand like this once, but just managed to stop herself. He would only start asking questions about it and she would have to make up more lies.

He looked at her with an amused smirk. "You were about to say something?"

She shook her head. "Nah... Was just thinking how stubborn this cut is. I think you're gonna have to keep your arm elevated while you eat Mokuba's desert, otherwise it might keep bleeding."

"Thank you," he sighed. "I seldom apologise, but I'm sorry if I said anything offensive about your friends. I respect Yugi as a duelist, but I will not pretend I have any feelings for them other than disdain."

Katsu was very tempted to squeeze his injured hand out of spite, but managed to stop herself.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," she said in the end.

::::::::::::

Nearly twenty minutes had passed and Katsu had still not replied to her message. Anzu turned to Yugi. "What do you think we should do?"

"I know what I think we should do," Honda answered for him.

"I'm not sure we should interfere," said Yugi. "I think we should trust her."

"Send her another message," Mai suggested. "Her phone might be on silent so she might not have seen the first one."

"Good idea!" Anzu quickly typed in another message, asking Katsu to respond to the first message.

Katsu and Seto were just returning to the dining room. The maid had cleared the bloodied tablecloth and replaced it with a fresh one. The blood drips had been wiped from the floor, leaving the room spotless.

Katsu was just sitting back down in her seat when she saw the light on her phone flashing from inside her bag where she had left the flap open after she had reached in to get her phone earlier.

"Oh! I have a message." She grinned sheepishly at Seto as she read the message. "It's my friends. They want to know if I want a lift home."

Mokuba was just coming into the dining room, proudly pushing his prize desert on a hostess trolley. He heard Katsu mention them. "Why don't you invite them in? I want to share my cake with the gang to say thank you for everything they have done for Seto and Me." He noticed how his big brother was boring holes into him with an icy glare and responded by giving him puppy eyes. "Please Seto? I feel like we owe them."

Seto inhaled deeply and let it out noisily. "Very well."

"Thanks big bro! You're the best!" Mokuba went to hug him but Seto flinched back.

"Mind the hand!" He said, raising it up and out of Mokuba's reach.

"Oops! Sorry. Promise me you will let the doctor look at it?"

"Yes, I will. Now, if you will excuse me? I am retiring to my room. I don't eat desert and I am not in the mood to face their stupid questions about what I did to my hand." He turned to the maid. "I will take coffee in my room. He looked at Katsu, without any affection."Goodnight Katsu." He turned and left.

"Night..." She replied, feebly. Was he cooling towards her?

Mokuba looked at her. "Did something happen between you two?"

Katsu finished typing her text to Anzu and then looked up. "We had a bit of a disagreement, that's all."

"Did he deliberately smash the glass? Is that how he cut his hand?" Mokuba looked worried.

"Nah... like he said, the glass just broke." When her phone vibrated to say that she had a reply, she was glad of the distraction.

::::::::::::

"She's replied!" Anzu exclaimed, with some relief. "She's asking us if we would like to come inside and share the cake that Mokuba has made. What do you think?"

Yugi and Mai both nodded, but Honda snorted. "Yeah, as long as it's not poison," he snorted.

"Oh! Will you give it a rest?" Mai complained. "I thought you were desperate to get in there,"

"And Mokuba's a good kid now," Anzu stated. "He's grown out of doing dangerous things, like poisoning people." She looked at Yugi for conformation. He nodded briefly. He was pretty sure that Mokuba would not pull another stunt like the one he had.

"Good! Then we're going," Anzu decided, sending a quick message to say they were on their way.

Still feeling uneasy about eating anything, Honda got out and followed them up to the gates of the mansion. The moment they got there, the lock on the gate buzzed and the gate swung open.

They hurried up the driveway, and when they reached the front door it was opened for them before they even had chance to knock.

"Ever feel like someone is watching your every move?" Honda huffed.

"Kaiba probably has cameras everywhere," Yugi guessed. "You can't be too careful when you have his reputation!"

"You got that right!" Honda replied. "The guy sure knows how to make enemies."

They were shown into the dining room, where Katsu and Mokuba were waiting for them. The first thing they all noticed was the absence of Seto.

"Where's Kaiba?" Yugi asked. His other Self had already emerged and was hovering at his shoulder, protectively.

"My brother doesn't eat desert and has a conference call to make," Mokuba lied, easily. "He won't be joining us."

"You all know how antisocial he is. He didn't like it when we invited you," Katsu added.

"Oh well," Anzu shrugged. "I'm kind of relieved that we don't have to face him."

"From what I've seen, he never has anything nice to say anyway," Mai added, nonchalantly.

"Hey! Don't talk about my brother like that," Mokuba complained. "He has a lot of responsibility. He can't afford to let his guard down."

"It's okay Mokuba. We understand," said Yugi, kindly.

Mokuba nodded. "Thanks Yugi." His face brightened. "Who's for cake?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed.   
> Please let me know if you did


	22. Jonouchi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yugi and his friends enjoy eating cake with Mokuba, while Jonouchi ponders his situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I originally wrote Jonouchi's POV in Italic font, which appears on the copy of this on Fanfic. However, I cannot work out for the love of Ra! How the heck to get the text to show in Italic font on here - so apologies. And, if anyone can tell me how to show Italic font, please tell me.   
> Thanks.

With the memory of what had happened last time he was here still in the back of his mind, Yugi had warned his friends to be cautious about eating anything prepared by Mokuba. And while he was certain Mokuba had changed for the better, he was still not sure he trusted him fully – yet! He could also hear his other Self whispering in his mind, that it was always wise to be cautious where food cooked by a potential enemy was concerned.

Mokuba handed the plates round and took one for himself.

At first, each of them poked at it while they waited for Mokuba to start eating his. But, they were shocked when Katsu tucked in without any concern or hesitation. "Mmmmm..." she mumbled, shovelling in a big mouthful and nodding in satisfaction.

Yugi looked at her with wide eyes. How could she be so relaxed and at home at the Maiba Mansion after what had happened to Jonouchi, here in this very room?

Mokuba was a little bit upset that they were not eagerly tucking in. "Don't you guys like cake?" He pouted. "This is my all time favourite!" However, he was not a stupid kid and it did occur to him that Yugi might have good reason not to trust him after their earlier encounters. It made him sad to look back at how he had behaved towards Yugi and he was desperate to show him that he had changed.

Keen to prove that the cake was not laced with poison, he took a big bite of his own portion and nodded happily as he ate.

Yugi glanced at his other Self, hovering beside him, waiting for his reaction. He was watching intently.

Reassured that it was safe to eat, Yami Yugi nodded. "I believe that Mokuba is now trustworthy, Aibou."

Meanwhile, Anzu was very quick to reassure their host. "Yes! Of course we love cake Mokuba." She glanced sideways at Yugi who was just scooping some cake up with his fork, preparing to eat. So she did the same.

Unlike Katsu, Honda had always preferred to weigh up a situation before rushing in. His ability to persuade Jonouchi to 'think before reacting' was the reason they had become best friends. But he felt powerless over Katsu, who was almost halfway through her large lump of cake – at least she was not turning green and convulsing! It worried him how willing she was to trust the Kaiba brothers after everything they had done.

But Honda also felt himself a pretty good judge of character too, and from what he was seeing, Mokuba was definitely a better person from the one they had first encountered at Death-T. He still remembered how Mokuba had turned off the falling blocks and let him out of that room. If the kid wanted him dead, then he would have left him in that room to be crushed to death.

Carefully picking up his fork, he scooped up a small amount from the corner of his cake and looked it over. "You can't really blame us for being nervous Mokuba. But I do think you have earned our trust," he gave the boy a friendly wink.

Mokuba blinked and looked down for a moment, before looking back up with a guilty but relieved expression. "I'm sorry for what I did to you guys in the past. If it helps, I feel really bad about poisoning Jonouchi and wanting you all to die in Death-T. If Jonouchi was here, I would say sorry to him."

Katsu's head snapped up to look at him. "I'm pretty sure he would accept your apology Mokuba," she said, with sincerity.

"Thanks," said Mokuba, sheepishly. "Maybe I will get a chance to tell him how sorry I am, when he gets back?"

"Yeah, he would like that. I will let him know," Katsu replied, with, in Honda's opinion, too much sickly charm.

Even though his cake was clearly not poison, Honda felt like gagging at the display – she should not be so friendly towards Mokuba. If he grew too fond of her, he would be upset when she vanished.

Mai did not really understand what all the fuss about. Poison cake?! Fattening, yes, but poison?! Okay, so she barely knew Mokuba. But from what she had seen of the kid, he did not seem like a poisoner. A lonely rich brat, who had been through a lot of hurt in his young life and had anger issues. But to imagine him lacing food with poison and deliberately feeding it to Jonouchi, was scary.

However, despite this revelation about the kid, she nibbled at her cake anyway. Not through fear of being poisoned, but more through fear of eating so many empty calories – she had a knock-em-dead figure to maintain.

Thankfully, no one collapsed with convulsions or turned green, and everyone was able to relax. The cake was delicious. Mokuba certainly had a talent for making deserts.

::::::::::::  
Jonouchi's POV:

Deep inside Katsu's heart and mind, Jonouchi was feeling totally imprisoned.

At first, he had been able to see, hear and feel everything that was going on with his 'female' body. However, his awareness and control had gradually diminished, until all that remained was this... this prison.

Sure, the room was full of all the things that defined Jonouchi as a person, but he was completely trapped!

He was not sure when it had happened, but even the window had completely disappeared! And now the door had vanished too – there was no way out!

Was this similar to the the sort of room Yugi had been trapped in when the other Yugi took over? Is that why he had experienced blackouts? Yugi had mentioned something about everyone having a soul room. Was this his?

Unless the evil spirit decided he wanted him to remember, Ryou often had vague recollections of events too. So he must also become trapped.

Did this mean that Katsu was deliberately blocking him from his own mind? Or did Katsu have no knowledge of what had happened to Jonouchi? Since she did not hold a Millennium item, it was possible that she was at the mercy of Bakura and the Millennium Ring.

He sat on the bed and rested his head against the headboard – which luckily, rested against the brightest corner or the light wall – and looked around at the things in his room: there was certainly enough here to keep him busy if he so wished. He had also discovered he could use his mind to change some of the items!

At the moment, there was a set of dumbells in one corner, and there was a punch bag hanging from the ceiling above; a pair of boxing gloves lay discarded underneath it. Clothes also littered the floor, and drawers were haphazardly left open; some of the clothing hanging out of the drawers where he had been too lazy to tidy it away. There was also a lot of other sporting equipment: such as a rugby ball, a football, football boots, a tennis racquet and a baseball bat – which he remembered had only ever been used as a weapon.

One of the walls was optimistic and very bright: it was covered with pictures of his friends. There were also pictures from happier times with his little sister, before his parents divorced.

The opposite wall told a different story: it told of darker times in his life, and was full of reminders of former gang mates and his arrests for minor, and some rather more serious offences.

If he listened closely to that wall, he was sure he could hear the sounds of knuckles cracking and his father yelling drunken expletives. It was not a nice wall and he preferred the brighter one as it gave him hope.

The two adjacent walls marked his transition, from a happy little kid with a great family life, to a disturbed adolescent from a broken home. The wall that lead him away from that dark period in his life, showed his transition from gangland thug and bully, to duelist extraordinaire and good friend to Yugi – the boy he had bullied. And yes, one corner of the dark wall made a point of reminding him just what a bastard he had been to the small lad that had never once done him any harm, and yet he had still felt the need to steal his lunch nearly every day, call him names and shove him to the ground during PE lessons, because he had thought he was a wimp.

Outside of this room, he had no idea what Katsu was getting herself into without his permission.

The whole dating Kaiba thing had started out as a huge joke: he had planned to string Kaiba along for as long as possible and make the tight bastard spend his money on Katsu.

But that had started to backfire immediately, when Jonouchi had been able to sense the feelings Katsu was developing for Kaiba. He dreaded that she might act on them; using his body – no, not his body, but the female body that had been inflicted on him.

But, he knew he could rely on his friends to prevent her doing anything stupid:

Yugi; the boy he had once bullied but was now his best friend.

Anzu; the feisty, outspoken girl who would go the the end of the world for her friends. Even though he had often bad mouthed her, and had humiliated her in class by lifting her skirt to see her panties, she had still taken Katsu under her wing without hesitation.

Honda; the boy he had been friends with since grade school and had always taken for granted. If ever he needed someone to cover his back, reliable Honda would be there to help out when the shit hit the fan.

Or... would his friends remember all the shitty, nasty mean things he had done to them over the years, and cut him loose? He would not blame them if they did!

He got off the bed and trudged over to the punch-bag to knock the stuffing out of it. But after five minutes of punching and kicking and generally trying to murder it, he realised that hitting something just for the sake of it was pointless. He needed to be constructive with his use of energy; find a way to beat or tear down these confining walls, by using his brain.

There was a way to beat this spell, there had to be!

::::::::::::

"I thought Mokuba was a very good host," said Anzu, positively.

"Yes, he was," Mai agreed. "Especially after his brother bailed as soon as he knew we were invited!"

"That's typical of Kaiba," Yugi added.

Everyone piled into Mai's car. Honda took the front passenger seat, and Yugi found himself sandwiched in the back between Anzu and Katsu.

"Are you all going back to Anzu's?" Asked Mai, as she waited for her rear seat passengers to fumble around with their seatbelts and fasten them.

"Yeah, thanks," Honda was the first to reply. "I left my bike there."

"Yes, I will go back to Anzu's house too," Yugi answered. He was keen to find out what had really happened between Katsu and Kaiba. He was pretty sure there was more to it than a conference call that caused Kaiba to skulk off to his room. Katsu was keeping quiet; but he did wonder if they had argued over her trying to break up with him.

Being polite, he did not ask. She would tell them in her own time.

Honda was less concerned about politeness. He was keen to get the truth out of her. Twisting in his seat, he looked at Katsu over his shoulder. "Did you tell him?"

"Tell him what?" Katsu replied, feigning ignorance.

"Tell him it was over you idiot! Is that why he went to his room?"

"No, I didn't tell him. We did have a bit of an argument over something stupid, and I was just about to tell him, but Mokuba came in with the cake so I never got chance." Honda was glaring at her in disbelief. "What?! It's the truth!"

"Is that the only reason he went to his room?" Anzu was a little less accusing in her tone than Honda had been. "Only, it's not like Kaiba to run away from an argument."

Katsu knew they would wheedle the truth out of her so she confessed. "He got angry, smashed a glass and cut his hand. He didn't want none of you to see him with it bandaged up, so he went to his room," she replied matter of factly.

"He did what?!" Yugi gasped. What must she have said that made him lose his temper and cut himself? It must have been bad. "You didn't tell him who you really were, did you?"

Katsu's eyes went wide. "What da ya take me for Yugi? I ain't that stupid!" She snapped.

"Sorry," Yugi responded meekly. "I wasn't implying you were. I just wondered why Kaiba would lose his temper like that?"

"Yeah, sorry Yugi," she nudged him with her shoulder. "I didn't mean to bite ya head off. But he annoyed me. He tried to say he was the only one who had it tough growing up. I pointed out that other people have shit lives too, but they don't get rich and turn into arrogant bastards."

Mai let out a loud, unladylike snort of laughter. "Yeah, that would do it," she chuckled.

Beside her, Honda also snorted with laughter. If that didn't put Kaiba off her and help her to end the relationship, then nothing could! Well, nothing except turning back into Jonouchi in front of Kaiba.

"So, I'm guessing you won't be seeing him again?" Asked Anzu, hopefully.

Katsu shrugged. "I have no idea. I'm just gonna leave it and see what happens." In her heart, she wanted to run to him, apologise and make it up to him. She was sure that he would be apologetic towards her as well. But her common sense told her that was a selfish, futile thing to do. She needed to remind herself that no good would come of her forming more than just a platonic relationship with him.

::::::::::::

The next day, Katsu awoke with a strange feeling of anxiety. She felt hot, irritable and her head hurt. It felt like a small person with a baseball bat was pounding inside her head. Don't say she was about to have another period already!

::::::::::::  
Jonouchi's POV:

Since becoming friends with Yugi, Jonouchi had seen a lot of weird shit.

Yugi had talked about playing Shadow Games, where the loser would face a Penalty Game. From what he had seen, the punishment dished out to the loser played on their worst fears and darkest thoughts.

The first one he had seen was when Shadi turned that nice professor Kanekura into a zombie. The guy had been a complete basket case and had not even flinched at being kicked in the face and sprayed with the fire extinguisher. Most guys would have been knocked out cold by all that!

Bakura had also turned their game of Monster World into a Shadow Game, by placing their souls in their game pieces. And more recently, he had seen Yugi play Shadow Games at Duelist Kingdom. That player killer, Panik, had really thought he was being sent to the gallows and had appeared to choke to death on... nothing!

Pegasus had also started one when he played against Yugi in the final. The two duelists had been shrouded in a dark, impenetrable fog, which had shielded them from view.

But on that occasion, Yugi had not inflicted any punishment on Pegasus, so the winner definitely had control over the loser's fate.

Yugi had also done something to Kaiba when he defeated him at Death-T. It hadn't looked like a Shadow Game, but from their close view point, they had been able to see a strange aura being emitted from Yugi, and he had yelled 'Penalty Game' and then 'Mind Crush' .What was it Yugi had said? He could not remember the exact words, but it had been something about removing the darkness from Kaiba's heart.

Jonouchi did not understand how it all worked, but one thing was for sure: the Millennium items were riddled with scary, voodoo magic shit.

If what he understood from the things Yugi had mentioned, the dark wall of his room was made from the darkness in his heart. Jonouchi told himself to think: what was it Yami Yugi had said?

It was something about controlling the shadows. He could manipulate the darkness and the shadows that lurked within, and bend them to his will.

Then, if that was the case, Bakura could do the same. He must have called upon the dark magic voodoo shit and put Jonouchi in this room. The dark wall was meant to terrify him into submission and stop him escaping.

The way out had to be through the one wall he was afraid of – the dark wall.

Steeling himself, he got off the bed and picked up the baseball bat. If any monsters were in that wall, he would beat the crap out of them!

Stealth attack, or full out assault? Jonouchi always preferred the latter.

Letting out a war cry, he raised the bat, ready to strike and charged the wall. He did not know what he expected to find, but it was not a solid wall. His shoulder slammed into the hard surface and he slumped backwards onto the floor, in pain.

"Ow! Fuck you! Damned wall!" He shouted.

Rubbing his bruised shoulder he recovered his dropped bat and stood up. There was one option, fumble around in the dark and look for the hidden door.

Reaching the wall, he found himself shrouded in complete pitch black darkness. It was also hard to breathe – like a thick smog trying to invade your lungs. Undaunted, he carried on searching for his way out.

::::::::::::

Shuffling into to the dining room, Katsu sat down and gazed at her food. Her chest hurt and she wasn't hungry.

"Are you okay Katsu? You look very pale." Anzu was very concerned for her.

"Yeah," she offered a weak smile. "Must be all the stress. I will be okay."

"Are you sure you want to come to school?"

Katsu shrugged. "Might as well. Better than dossing round here on my own."

"I guess," Anzu frowned. "But don't overdo it."

After eating some breakfast, Katsu felt a little better and was ready for the walk to school.

Putting their shoes on, they grabbed their bags and headed outside, into the muggy air.

"I think we're due a storm," said Anzu, more to make conversation than to inform her friend.

"Yeah, I hate this kinda weather. We should hurry before it starts raining."

They picked up the pace a little, but had not gone more than twenty yards when the Kaiba limousine

came around the corner and pulled up alongside them.

They both stopped walking and watched as the window rolled down. Katsu walked over and peered inside. She could see his wounded hand resting in his lap, neatly bandaged.

"Hi!" She muttered, dumbly.

"Get in Katsu. We need to talk," Seto ordered, blandly.

Anzu grabbed her arm. "You can't..."

Katsu turned to her and patted the hand that was holding her arm. "I will be okay. Seto is right, we do need to talk."

Anzu was still worried. "What if he won't take no for an answer?"

Katsu winked at her. "He might be a jerk, but he has values that would surprise you. I will talk to him and get him to drop me off at school, okay?"

"Okay, I will see you there." Anzu kissed her friend on the cheek. "Please leave your phone on, and ring me if there's any problems."

"I will. Bye!" She waited while the chauffeur opened the door for her, and then slid into the back and settled beside Seto, on the plush, white leather seat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed. Please let me know in a review.


	23. Last Chance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Kaiba nursing his injured hand, Katsu agrees to yet another dinner date. Will this one go any better than the last?  
> Her friends are not happy with her and Jonouchi is trying to find a way out of his soul room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I didn't post this chapter yesterday, but I had a very busy weekend and did not get a chance to even turn on my laptop!
> 
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

Briefly catching his eye, Katsu looked away. Her eyes flickered downwards, drawn by the way he was covering his wounded hand with his good hand.

"How is it today? ...Your hand."

"It's not serious. Two stitches." He raised it to show her, but all she could see was a clean white dressing.

"That's good then.. I suppose." An awkward moment of silence followed. Was he going to talk to her or what? The atmosphere was so frosty, she felt like getting out of the car and running after Anzu.

Or... perhaps she should ask him what it was he wanted to say to her.

Relationships were so foreign to Seto, that he did not really know how to apologise and make amends to someone he might have offended. He found it easier to talk to his computer than he did another person, because his technology was programmed to be compliant. In fact, the only time he did not mind talking to other people was when he was making threats or giving orders. And he knew that Katsu would never concede to orders.

"How long have you got?" He asked, simply. Stupid question! He knew what time lessons started.

Katsu did not wear a watch and her phone was in her school bag. "Erm... about twenty minutes, I think."

Seto gave a knowing nod. Plenty of time to talk. But he was unusually tongue-tied.

Katsu barely even noticed the limo pull away and join the morning traffic, until the chauffeur's voice crackled over the tinny intercom. "Where would you like to go Sir?"

Seto was relieved that the driver's question offered a distraction. "Domino High School, in twenty minutes," he answered.

Katsu cleared her throat. "So... er.. what did you want to say?" There was a hint of apprehension in her voice, which Seto did not fail to notice.

"Do I unnerve you?"

"What? Oh! Nah... I'm related to the Mutt, remember? Nerves of steel." Her attempt at sarcasm sounded funnier than intended, and Seto chortled with laughter.

"Yes, but thankfully, you are not him." He sounded so certain about it, that it was Katsu's turn to laugh.

They may have both been laughing for different reasons, but it did serve to ease the tension between them.

"I wanted to apologise for getting angry last night," he suddenly said. "It was uncalled for."

"No need. You got your punishment," she pointed at his injured hand. "But apology accepted." She let out a sigh. "If it helps, I was a bit bad tempered too."

"Bad tempered is an understatement." He raised an eyebrow and gave her a slight smirk. "I will never understand women. That is why I prefer technology."

"And dragons," Katsu interjected, with a snicker.

"My dragons worship me, and they never dare to argue," he chuckled at his own joke. However, Katsu could not tell if he was joking or being serious.

"Anyway!" He continued. "Since I am forgiven, does that mean we can try again?"

Katsu felt a shudder run down her spine. She opened her mouth to tell him it was over, but... the way he was looking at her from underneath his curtain of hair. His eyes looked almost navy in the dark interior of the car. But they also sparkled with hints of sapphire, which gave them a hint of uncharacteristic gentleness.

She had never noticed it before, because he seldom smiled genuinely, but she could see that he had a little dimple on the right side of his cheek.

For a moment, he looked nothing like the frosty, spiteful CEO that they so often had to deal with. He looked so boyish and handsome that it caused her resolve to crumble.

"Well, erm.. yes, I guess we can." Her friends were going to be very disappointed in her.

"Good!" His trademark, self satisfied smirk was back and Katsu felt stupid for falling so easily into his trap. He had known exactly how to put on the charm to win her over and get what he wanted. He probably used the same manipulative tactics in business; to disarm clients and rival companies before going in for the kill.

"I will not put pressure on you to move in with me, but I would like you to have dinner with me tonight. And maybe this time we can dine without an argument." They would be dining alone too because Mokuba had a guitar lesson.

Katsu was trying hard to think of an excuse, but her mind was not functioning and the pounding in her head had returned. "We have after school club today!" She eventually blurted.

"Yes, but that won't go on all evening. I will send a car to collect you at seven."

Unable to think of another excuse, Katsu was left with her jaw flapping.

The small communications speaker crackled and the driver's tinny voice came over the small speaker. "Mister kaiba! We have arrived at Domino High School."

Wrinkling her nose, Katsu squinted out through the dark, smoky glass of the car window, and was surprised to see they were parked up outside the school. The car ride had been so smooth, she had barely even noticed the journey.

She could see that many of the students had stopped at the gates and were looking at the limousine. She really did not want to face the questions she knew they would bombard her with and it made her want to remain hidden inside the car.

Maybe she should just tell the driver to take them somewhere else! But, then she would be alone with Seto. Doh... she wanted to cry out.

However, that was not an option as the chauffeur was already opening the car door for her.

"Miss Katsu?" He held the door open and swept his arm in a gesture for her to exit the car.

This time she did cry out... "Doh..."

"Is there something wrong?" Seto enquired.

She turned to glance at him over her shoulder and could see the concern etched on his features. "No! Yes! They're all looking at me!" She squeaked.

Seto looked beyond her to where some students were gawking, while others were muttering to one another and giggling. "They are only jealous. Just ignore them."

"Easy for you to say! You don't have to face them!" She complained.

"Then kiss me? That will really give them something to gossip about," he smirked.

She was unable to work out if he was serious or just teasing so she rolled her eyes.

"I think I will stick to ignoring them. See ya later!" Composing herself, she hoisted her book bag over her shoulders and marched towards the gates.

She was immediately harassed by fellow students.

"So its true! You really are dating Seto Kaiba?" An irritating girl asked.

Katsu smirked at her. Himari was one of the girls who always fantasized about romance and boys. She had giggled and tried to flirt with Seto when he first came to the school and Seto had merely sneered at her and asked: 'are you always this cheap?' It had upset her. Jonouchi had offered to cheer her up, but she had called him a 'creepy guy' and told him to get lost.

"If you want to date Seto Kaiba, you need to have class. So, yes! I am," said Katsu, in a superior tone. Seto must be rubbing off on her.

Himari huffed and pouted and Katsu wanted to laugh in her face and call her 'creepy girl'. But she resisted the urge and bit her tongue. She did not need a confrontation.

Ignoring the remarks from one of the other bitchy girls, about about her lacking any class, she stuck her nose in the air and quickly hurried away from them. She needed to find her friends.

::::::::::::

Outwardly, Seto never showed any self doubt.

Because of his status and reputation as a ruthless CEO, and also because he was very tall and physically strong for his age, people tended to forget he was still not yet seventeen.

And, when it came to women, he had often found himself in situations where he was surrounded by women who were older than himself. At business functions, he was frequently pursued by them.

It was obvious they saw him as a rich, handsome young man, whom they could snare with their brightly painted acrylic talons, seduce him into bed, and then teach him things that most boys his age could only dream of. They would try to wheedle their way into his heart in order to get their claws on his fortune. But he was not as naïve and gullible as they hoped he would be.

At first, he had been flattered by such attention – how could a young man not be flattered? He allowed himself to be seduced and at the time it was enjoyable. If he was the Mutt, he would probably have been bragging about it for days – weeks even.

But he was a private person, who preferred to be alone, and afterwards, he had come to the conclusion that the encounter had actually been slightly awkward and disappointing. The woman had been a stunningly beautiful model, and had also been voted Queen of a beauty pageant.

But her personality was lacking and he had no interest in trying to explain what a Duel Monsters card was! There was no love involved, just sex, and even that had hardly seemed worth the effort.

After that, he had ignored all attempts to seduce him. As beautiful as many of them were, he never once found any of them attractive enough to care about, so he pushed them away.

But Katsu was different. He considered himself good at judging peoples intentions and he was certain that she was not trying to lure him into her 'honey trap'. In fact, she actually seemed so uninterested in intimacy, that he wondered if she might be repulsed by him.

Judging by her body language when she had first got into the car this morning, he had been sure she was about to tell him that she did not want to date him any more!

That alone, unnerved him; it was what was giving him his self doubts.

"We are here Mister Kaiba," the chauffeur announced through the small tinny speaker.

His voice jolted Kaiba from his rumination. "Oh! Thank you Ito."

Without waiting for his chauffeur to open the door, he got out of the car and marched into Kaiba Corp. HQ. He needed to be alone in his office, and he needed coffee!

His journey through the foyer, into the elevator and up to his office was the same as always; employees bowing lowly in his presence, like he was some sort of royalty, and afraid to meet his eye without first being addressed by him. They were even too afraid to get into the elevator with him!

Did they think they were showing him respect? It actually made him feel sick. Maybe he should fire the next person who bowed before him like a snivelling sycophant.

Upon stepping from the elevator, the next person he saw was his secretary, Keiko. She stood from her chair and bowed her head. "Good morning Mister Kaiba."

Seto rolled his eyes and let out a loud guffaw, causing her to startle slightly. Typical! He thought. I can't sack Keiko, she's the best secretary I have ever had.

"Is everything okay Sir?" She frowned, a little concerned.

"Yes, thank you Keiko. I was just thinking about something... amusing."

She blinked at him and blushed. "Oh! Okay, Sir! Would you like me to bring you some coffee?"

She must have read his mind! "Yes please. Have there been any calls for me yet?"

"Siegfried Von Schroeder called earlier. He would like to arrange a conference call today, if that's okay?"

Seto growled. The one person he did not need to deal with this morning was that effeminate fool. "Tell him I'm busy."

::::::::::::

When Katsu entered the classroom, her friends all looked relieved. Anzu must have told them that she had gone with Kaiba, in the limo. They had probably been discussing her decision.

She was prepared for the scolding lecture, but it did not come immediately.

"Katsu!" Anzu's face flooded with relief. "Thank goodness you're here! I was worried Kaiba might drag you off somewhere."

"No!" Katsu was quick to remind her. "I told you I would see you at school. I would never let you down."

"Well! Did you say it?" Honda raised his eyebrows at her, expectantly.

Katsu pretended not to understand what he meant. "Say what?" She smiled at him, innocently.

Honda sighed. "Why am I not surprised," he grumbled.

Katsu looked at Yugi and Anzu for some support. "Come on guys? You know how hard it is for me! I need to find the right moment."

Yugi shook his head. "I'm sorry Katsu, I really don't understand why you continue to date Kaiba. Nothing good will come out of it!"

Katsu felt slightly disappointed that Yugi was not supporting her. He was usually good natured and could always be relied upon to support Jonouchi. Why couldn't he show her some of that support?

What about Anzu? She had been a really good friend, but even she was looking a little disappointed in her for not telling Kaiba it was over.

"Look guys! I will, I promise. I was just in a hurry to get to school and he kind of put me on the spot when he asked me to have dinner with him tonight."

"What?!" All three of them said at the same time.

"You didn't say yes, did you?" Honda was very worried. The look on Katsu's face told him what he needed to know. He let out an expletive under his breath and huffed. "What is wrong with you?"

"Do I have to spell it for you?" Said Katsu, sarcastically.

Anzu was concerned that they were about to start quarrelling. "Guys! No fighting in class," she ordered.

"Yeah, we should all sit down," said Yugi, assertively. "Sensei will be here any minute."

"We will talk at lunchtime, okay?" Anzu suggested.

Nodding, the four of them went to their desks and sat down.

Katsu looked over her right shoulder at Honda, and mouthed, "sorry! I promise I will definitely tell him tonight."

Honda gave a brief nod in return.

On her left hand side, Anzu leaned across the gap and gave Katsu's forearm a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

::::::::::::

As always, the Kaiba limousine arrived at seven on the dot! And, as Katsu got in, she felt uneasy.

It was not just because she had upset her friends again by continuing to see Kaiba, there was something else bothering her.

She had felt odd this morning, but that feeling had passed. Now, however, was starting to fell a little disjointed. She was sure that her time here was getting shorter with each day that passed, and she wondered just how much longer she would be around. It almost felt as if shadows were starting to bleed into her, through small cracks that were starting to appear in her soul.

Did that mean the spell starting to fade? Having had no prior experience of magic, she had no idea.

But it was starting to occur to her that maybe she should make the most of her evening with Seto, because it might be her last!

However, guilt was eating at her over her male counterpart. At first, he had been controlling her behaviour, but his influence had quickly faded away. Now, he had no influence over her at all. She could not hear him or feel him in her mind; it was like he was not there at all.

She had no idea where he even was! But Yugi's talk of soul rooms and shadows and darkness and stuff, lead her to believe that he had been shut away inside his soul room.

If that was the case, Jonouchi had absolutely no idea what was happening outside his soul room. This body was not his body; it was not male, it was female and was unique to her. If she wanted to be intimate with Seto, or anyone else for that matter, then it was her choice. She would take her memories to the afterlife – or wherever it was she would return to – and Jonouchi would have no knowledge of what she had been doing. He would get his own body back, and could carry on with his life. He would probably forget all about the spell that Bakura had used on him.

But was she ready for intimacy? It was a scary thought and she was unsure.

Maybe she should just wait and see how the evening unfolded.

::::::::::::

Just like last evening, Seto was waiting for her in his games room.

"Do you enjoy playing games?" He asked.

"You bet I do!" She nodded.

"Good! I hope you are better than the... your cousin?"

Katsu thought for a very brief moment before answering. "I would say we're similar."

Seto raised an intrigued eyebrow. "I hope not! Otherwise playing against you will be a waste of my time."

"Hey! That's not fair!" She complained, offended.

Looking mildly amused, Seto just shrugged. "Let's eat first, and we can find out if you are capable of offering me any competition afterwards."

"You just wait! I'm an expert at fighting games. I even gave Yugi a run for his money."

"Did you win?"

"Well, no. Of course not! No one beats Yugi! But I nearly got him a couple of times."

Shaking his head, Seto lead her to the dining room. "It is quite a while since I have had time to play anything other than Duel Monsters. So I might be a little rusty."

"I play Duel Monsters! Why don't we have a game?" She hoped he would say yes! If she was able to beat him, she would have to resist the urge to gloat, but it would be hilarious to win after some of the nasty things he had said to Jonouchi.

"Perhaps." Seto shrugged half heartedly. Playing Duel Monsters for fun did not really interest him. He preferred the high stakes games, that really got his adrenalin going.

Sitting down, he poured some wine.

Thanking him, Katsu took a sip andwinced as she suddenly felt a stab of pain behind her left eye. Was this what a migraine felt like? She hoped she was not getting one.

::::::::::::

The dark wall made Jonouchi feel miserable and despondent. It held so many painful memories, but he continued searching, undeterred. Somewhere in here was the door out of here.

Fumbling, his hand found a door handle. Wrenching it, he was not surprised to find that it was locked.

Out of frustration, he barged the door with his shoulder. Had the door been made of the usual plywood, the hinges or lock would have been easy to break, but this door was made of much more solid oak.

Raising his baseball bat he swung it at the door handle. It bounced off with an awful crack, but did noting more than dent his baseball bat. He swore, loudly. But no one could hear.

This door was not going to budge. He needed another strategy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could not resist using that little Kaiba line from DSOD: 'snivelling sycophants'. It was one of several Kaiba classics!
> 
> As always: Thanks for reading and please review/kudos.


	24. Breakout!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonouchi is trying desperately to break free from his soul room. And yet again, dinner for Katsu and Seto does not go to plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is the penultimate chapter. It flips between Katsu and Jonouchi's POV quite a lot, which I hope is not too confusing.  
> So, here we go! Be warned for some bad language.  
> Also, I still don't own Yugioh. If I did, Yugi and Anu would have kissed at the end of DSOD.

The baseball bat was covered in small dents and splits, and still the door handle would not budge: it was like the door was made of solid concrete and the door handle of wrought iron.

Jonouchi needed something better able to break through the door. He thought for a moment. Could he maybe, imagine up an axe?!

He went back over to his bed and sat down with his elbows resting on his knees and concentrated on the splintered bat in his hand. "I really need you to be an axe right now!" He pleaded.

Nothing happened immediately, but after a few minutes of concentrating, the baseball bat slowly disintegrated into a pile of sawdust on the threadbare carpet. "No! No! No!" He cried, placing his head in his hands. Now he had nothing at all to use against the door.

But when he opened his eyes again, there on the floor was a brand new axe; it's sharp, gleaming blade, reflective in the light of the lamp on the ceiling, glinted up at him.

Sitting up straight, he grinned. "Yay! Now we're in business. Come to papa, baby." He bent forward and picked up his new toy.

::::::::::::

Seeing Katsu yelp and drop her wine, made Seto startle. He put down his own glass and started to stand. His napkin slid from his lap onto the floor but he ignored it.

"Are you okay?"

Out of the blue, Katsu had suddenly hunched forward, clutching her head, and was oblivious to the fact that she had her arms resting in the red wine that was now soaking into the tablecloth. Wine had also splashed onto her dress and into her lap.

"Get the fuck outta my head! Gimme back my body!" She yelled.

As far as Seto was concerned, she was making no sense at all. "W..wha... what's wrong? D..do you need a doctor?" Great! Now he was stuttering like Muto used to when Seto glowered down at him, intent on intimidating the weed.

Katsu groaned and sat up straight, shaking her head. She was very flushed. "Ow! That really hurt," she complained. "It was like someone hitting the inside of my skull with an axe!"

Seto frowned at her. That did not sound good at all. He remembered one of the children at the orphanage being diagnosed with a brain tumour. The boy had suffered severe migraines and sudden episodes of blacking out. After he had started fitting, they had taken him to hospital for a scan, which had revealed the bad news.

"I have access to the best doctors in Japan. I can arrange for you to see a specialist. Don't worry about the cost."

She looked up at him. "It's okay Seto! I'm fine now. It was nothing." But in truth, she felt weird. Perhaps she should ask to go home. She looked down at the spilled red wine, vivid against the crisp white tablecloth. "Oh! I've ruined it, haven't I?"

Seto waved it off dismissively. "It's just a tablecloth. Do you want to continue with dinner? If so, I will get the maid to change it."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm actually starving hungry." The pain in her head had receded, and more weirdly, she felt like she hadn't eaten in days! She also felt like she had been swinging weights about, or something. She hoped he would not notice as she wiped away the tiny beads of sweat that had formed on her temple.

::::::::::::

Jonouchi stood back and admired his handy work. He had hit the door several times and the wood was beginning to splinter.

But all this vigorous exercise was making him hungry. How long had he been in here? He could not be sure, but he could not remember eating anything since becoming trapped.

He wiped away the beads of sweat from his brow and decided to take a break from the door, to see if he could imagine up a beef bowl and a can of iced coffee.

::::::::::::

Seto raised his brow in amusement as he watched Katsu wolfing down the spiced, braised pork and dumplings.

"Have you not had time to eat today?" He teased.

Katsu looked up with her mouth full and blushed. Oh, crap! She was eating like Jonouchi. Shaking her head, she hurriedly chewed and swallowed. "I forgot my packed lunch and we had a gym class today. This stew is also really good!"

He smiled at her. "Cook's secret family recipe. She marinates the pork for twenty four hours, before cooking it slowly in a pot, with the vegetables and herbs. The dumplings go in last and are steamed until light and fluffy."

They finished their food without further incident, but Katsu was starting to feel a little bit strange again: it was the sort of feeling one might get before doing something they were afraid of – nerves!

She put it down to the possibility that she and Seto might share some intimacy tonight.

"Shall we take coffee in the games room?" He suggested. "And I will let you choose the game we play."

"Can we play on that old Atari I spotted on the shelf? I haven't played ping pong in years!"

Seto started laughing. How quaint that she liked the retro games. "If you wish."

Getting up from the table, they wandered into the games room. Katsu sat down to sip her coffee, while Seto set up the old Atari consul.

"What do you want to play first?"

"Tennis," she stated, definitively.

"I should warn you, I never lose," he replied, with more arrogance than Katsu thought appropriate. He had lost twice to Yugi, and used underhand tactics to make Yugi concede the game on the tower of Pegasus' castle. So, to say he never lost a game was bullshit!

"Except to Yugi!" She blurted, without thinking. As soon as she spoke, she regretted it. She had not intended to voice her thoughts so curtly, but something, or someone, deep inside her subconscious had bled through into her mind.

The look Seto shot her could have curdled fresh milk. "He cheated!" Seto spat, nastily. "I don't know how he does it, but I know it has something to do with that pendant he wears. He changes from a weak boy, into some sort of gaming genius. Whoever he is, I will defeat and humiliate him."

Katsu cringed. Seto thought that Yugi beat him by cheating? That was outrageous. Even without the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi was pretty much unbeatable at games. It was only really his shyness that prevented him from believing in his own ability. The Puzzle gave Yugi his missing confidence.

The other Yugi, who for some reason resided inside the Puzzle, had also been a great motivator for Jonouchi. Just having him there had fuelled Jonouchi's desire to win, and it had given him the self belief that he could be something more than a hired thug. The spirit had been good for Yugi and good for Jonouchi, but Katsu would not call it cheating. "I'm sorry that what I said upset you. But I'm also upset that you would accuse Yugi of cheating. I haven't known him long, but my cousin thinks the world of the little guy. He says Yugi is the most genuine, honest guy he has ever met. His grandfather gave him the Millennium Puzzle and it's his... lucky charm."

Seto huffed. "Lucky charm eh! Well, sooner or later his luck will run out, because I will not rest until I have beaten him."

"You really don't like losing, do you?"

For some unexplained reason, her words jabbed at his heart. She sounded genuinely saddened by his attitude, and it worried him that she might find that part of his nature offensive. "Bitter experiences have taught me that losers are swept aside and trampled on. I intend for Mokuba and I to never be in that position again."

This conversation was becoming too personal. Jonouchi knew full well how bad it felt to be a loser in life. And, while Seto had used his brain to fight his way out of the gutter, Jonouchi had used his fists. Katsu did not really want to confront Seto over it again, so she did not pursue it. "It's sad that you lost your love of having fun. To me, playing games should be fun! Come on, fire up the game and I will teach you to enjoy yourself," she grinned.

Seto gave her a doubtful glare. "It will only be fun if I win," he pouted, and started the game.

The little white dot pinged off his bat and she just about managed to ping it back. She nudged him with her shoulder and his bat missed the little white dot.

"Hey!" He scowled. She responded by poking her tongue out at him.

"Fifteen love to me!" She gloated. He failed to see the funny side of it and restarted the game.

"Fifteen all!" He gloated, winning the next point, and mimicking her by poking his tongue out at her.

Katsu giggled when she lost the game. "That was fun. But I think I need to practice."

He nodded his agreement. "You were completely hopeless," he teased, studying her laughing. The way her nose wrinkled and the dimples in cheeks creased, made his heart jump.

He gently took the controller from her hand and placed it on the table. He then reached for her hand and gently massaged it with his fingertips.

She stopped laughing and looked at him more seriously. Was he about to kiss her?

He leaned in and planted his lips, gently against hers. The kiss lingered for only a few seconds but it still made Katsu feel breathless.

Now he was gazing at her with lust in his eyes. His intentions were clear and it made her so nervous, she did not know what to do.

Part of her wanted him, but part of her was telling her that to allow this to continue was so very wrong. Maybe if she just let him kiss her and then...

Before she had time to finish her thoughts, his arms were around her and his body was pressed against hers. He raised one hand and brushed his fingers through her thick, dark blonde hair. He wondered if it was natural, or if she dyed it.

Maybe he would ask. But first, he wanted to kiss her sweet lips again.

::::::::::::

Jonouchi had been trying to summon his beef bowl for some time now. The canned coffee had materialised in a matter of seconds, but the food was seemingly impossible to create.

Damn! He thought he had it all worked out, but it seemed this soul room magic shit was more difficult to fathom than he had thought.

Pulling the tab on his canned coffee, he took a swig. Strange, that even without eating, he was suddenly feeling reasonably full. Did that mean Katsu had just eaten? He had not really noticed her moods and feelings since being locked away in his soul room, but something definitely felt... off. Maybe it meant that the spell was starting to wear off and that soon he would be free.

However, that might still take time to happen, so he should get back to work on the door.

He looked at it, and was sure the wall and the door were no longer as dark as they had been. In his quest to find the way out, he had been forced to confront many of his darkest memories, and they no longer taunted him or terrified him like they once had. Some of them had now faded completely, and although the wall still contained the dark side of his nature, he could just about see the door, shimmering amongst the shadows.

Picking up his axe, he went back to the door. If he could just get two or three good hits in the same place, the handle might break free from the wood.

::::::::::::

Seto stood from the two seater on which they were sitting and pulled her to her feet. She had responded favourably to his kisses. Maybe now was the right moment to take a chance.

"Shall we go to my private rooms?"

As she opened her mouth to answer, she felt her knees trembling. Should she say yes, or should she decline. Either way, she was almost too afraid to answer.

The decision was taken from her when the sharp pain in her head returned.

Letting out a blood curdling scream, she clutched her head and fell to her knees.

Gasping, Seto jumped backwards in fear. What the heck was going on with her? He had not felt this afraid since Gozaburo had first beaten him with his cane for getting an advanced mathematics question wrong.

Standing here gawking at her like some sort of useless idiot was not much help either.

Kneeling down beside her, he placed his hand on the middle of her back and tried to sooth her by rubbing gently in small circles. "Can you speak? What can I do to help?" He pleaded. Her back felt hot and clammy and the silky material of her dress was damp with sweat.

Unable to speak, she let out a pained groan and started to writhe on the floor in agony.

Oh My God! Seto fretted. She had started fitting. His mind was going blank, but it did occur to him that he should make sure her head did not hit anything. There was no furniture in the way but the floor was hardwood, so he took off his shirt and placed it under her head.

Gently holding her head, he waited to see if the seizure would pass. As soon as it eased, he would go and get the phone, and call for a doctor.

::::::::::::

Katsu felt herself being pulled and squeezed and crushed. Her insides were moving and changing and reshaping. Her bones were cracking and changing shape. The agony was almost too much to bear. She tried to scream but her voice had deserted her, leaving her cries soundless.

At first, she could feel and hear Seto, gently holding her and talking to her. But a dark red and purple fog was now surrounding her and the distance was growing between them. Something was pulling her in and there was nothing she could do to stop the underworld from re-claiming her only recently born soul.

May the Gods have mercy on her!

::::::::::::

One good hit the axe, and the door started to splinter. Jonouchi lowered the axe and reached out to try the door handle.

But what happened next was completely unexpected and Jonouchi was taken by surprise. Instead of the wood splitting around the handle, enabling him to give it one good tug to break the lock and open it, the door began to crack outwards, away from the handle, like a pane of glass cracking during a mild earthquake.

A brilliant while light was seeping in through the cracks, forcing him to shield his eyes.

Taking a step back from the door, Jonouchi stumbled over his dropped axe and landed painfully on his backside.

The bright light was becoming even brighter, as gradually, the doorway disintegrated, allowing Jonouchi to be bathed in a light so blinding, he thought he might be about to die.

Don't get sucked into the light! He told himself.

But the light was invading the room and filling it with such brightness that it was impossible to even open his eyes.

His reaction was to remain curled up on the floor with his arms around his head to protect himself.

Slowly, the light started to dissipate and Jonouchi chanced a glance at his surroundings.

The first thing he saw was the inside of someone else's thigh and crotch. Whoever it was, was wearing pale blue slacks and navy blue socks, and... Blue Eyes White dragon slippers!

His head was resting on a white shirt and Gentle hands were stroking his head. The shirt smelled of a cologne that he thought he recognised.

Oh... shit! He was looking at Seto Kaiba's crotch!

::::::::::::

Letting out an expletive, Seto dropped the head he was holding and recoiled from the person on the floor in horror. "You!" He spat, venomously. "What have you done with Katsu?" He was completely confused. Was this one of Muto's, and his stupid band of dorks, ideas of a joke?!

"Kaiba?!" Jonouchi shrieked, still laying on the floor. He had yet to look down at his attire, but the look of disgust on Kaiba's face told him that he was very out of place, and was extremely unwelcome.

"Ugh!" Kaiba suddenly spat on the floor and started wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. What the heck just happened? Had he just been kissing the Mutt?

Jonouchi's eyes widened in realisation. His lips tingled and felt slightly puffy. They were still moist, and he could taste someone else on them. It was a mild taste of cologne and coffee. It was at that moment he chose to look down at himself and saw the navy blue dress he was wearing. Without breasts, it sagged down at the front and showed off the lacy blue bra he was wearing underneath.

"Arrghhh!" He let out a shriek. "What the fuck am I wearing?"

Suddenly, Kaiba's hands were around his throat. "You've got some explaining to do Mutt!"

Jonouchi made a choking sound and tried to prise the hands away from his throat.

Realising that Jonouchi was going blue and unable to answer, he released his grip enough that Jonouchi could breathe.

Jonouchi responded by placing a hand on Seto's bare chest and shoving him away. "Get the fuck away from me! And put your fucking shirt on!" He picked up the shirt that he was sitting on and threw it at Seto.

Snarling, Seto hurriedly put his shirt back on: the last person he wanted seeing his toned, bare chest was the Mutt. "What sort of stupid trick is this?! How the hell did you get in here?" He snapped, doing the buttons up so hastily, he was fastening them all wrong.

"How the hell should I know!" Jonouchi yelled back at him. "One minute I was in my soul room, trying to find a way out. Next minute there was this blinding light and I was laying on your floor, with you groping me!"

"How dare you...! I was not groping you," Seto snarled. "An if you ever utter a word of this, I will sue you. Is that clear?"

"Do you honestly think I want anyone to know you tried to seduce me?! Fucking pervert!"

"Get out of my house, you cross dressing freak!" Seto went over to the patio doors and slid them open, pointing outside. It was dark, so hopefully no one would see.

Jonouchi gasped. "What?!" He yelled. "You can't just chuck me out looking like this! What if someone sees me? They'll think you and me have got a thing going!" He grimaced at the thought.

Seto growled. The Mutt had a point. "Follow me." He slammed the patio door closed and turned on his heel towards the door of the games room.

Opening it a crack, he peered out. Good, the coast was clear. Thankfully, apart from the kitchen staff and two security guards, the rest of the staff had been given the evening off, so there was no one about. Mokuba was not back yet either. If they were quick, he could get Jonouchi out of here without him being spotted.

Jonouchi felt very self conscious in his ladies undies, silk stockings and slinky blue dress. He tried to ignore the sensation of lace tickling his male bits. It was embarrassing, but there was something about ladies panties that was actually a turn on. He wondered how wearing a dress and ladies knickers could possibly be making him horny! Especially in the situation he found himself in!

"In here," Seto growled, opening the door to his bedroom. He turned to sneer at Jonouchi, who was standing awkwardly in his dress, and for some reason had his hands cupped over his groin area, self-consciously. "You look like a complete idiot."

Jonouchi's lip curled into a snarl. "Yeah, one you tried to snog."

Seto gave him a derisive snort and opened the door to his huge walk-in wardrobe. He pulled out a pair of trousers and a shirt that he no longer wore. "Here. Change into these." He threw them at Jonouchi and walked out of the bedroom.

Shrugging himself out of the dress, bra and stockings, he decided to leave the panties on – he told himself that he did not want the crotch of Kaiba's old trousers touching his nob.

The trousers were too long in the leg and the shirt was too long in the arms. But it was better than the dress, so would have to suffice.

Kaiba's head appeared round the edge of the door. "Have you finished yet?" When he spotted Jonouchi standing in his old clothes, he laughed. "You look ridiculous."

"Yeah, well you should know; these are your clothes. What about shoes? I can't go in bare feet."

"Can't you wear your stiletto heels?" Seto sneered, mockingly.

"Don't be a jerk, Money Bags. Find me some socks and trainers, or I will blab that you've got a thing for transvestites and paid me to dress up."

Seto growled. He would not dare... "What size shoes are you? I doubt any of mine will fit you."

"Size eight!" It turned out that Seto's feet were two sizes bigger, but after rummaging in the back of the wardrobe, Seto found an old pair of tennis shoes that he had hardly worn but had grown out of a couple of years ago.

"Try these." He threw them at Jonouchi with some force. Luckily, Jonouchi had quick reactions and swatted them aside.

Thankfully, they fitted well enough that Jonouchi could at least get home in them, but they did rub a bit. Seto decided to make him suffer, by refusing to give him socks.

"Now, get out! And take your dress with you," Seto snarled, shoving Jonouchi out of his bedroom.

"I'm goin! I'm goin!" He swung his elbow at Seto's chest, but Seto got out of the way and he missed.

As soon as they were downstairs, Jonouchi turned to go back into the games room, but Seto blocked him.

"I need to get my bag first, ya moron. It's got my keys and phone in," Jonouchi snapped, angrily. Grunting, Seto went and got it for him.

"Now get lost. And if you ever say anything about any of this, I will kill you."

"You think I wanna mention this?!" Jonouchi snapped, gathering his belongings in his arms. He looked down at his attire. "What do you want me to do with your clothes after I've finished with them?"

"Burn them." And with those final words, Seto slammed the door, leaving Jonouchi stood on the front porch, hugging his ladies clothing and shoulder bag. Luckily, he was able to fit the bra and stockings in the bag, but had to carry the dress and stilettos.

Huffing to himself, Jonouchi stomped down the driveway, towards the gates. He was not surprised when, as soon as he reached them, they opened – Seto was probably watching on the cameras, to make sure he left quietly.

Without enough money for the bus, Jonouchi was forced to walk. The shoes slipped a bit and rubbed on his heels and big toe.

Where should he go? He did not want to go home to his own flat, because of his father's possible reaction, and he was not sure if he could go back to Anzu's now he was a man again. The only place he could think of was Honda or Yugi – Yugi lived closer.

By the time he got to Kame Game, his heels were rubbed raw and his big toenail hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jonouchi is back! I had thought about them making it as far as the bed before he returned, but I'm not that cruel.  
> I hope you will all stay with me for next weekend's conclusion.


	25. Coming to Terms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jonouchi is back. He makes it to the game shop and Yugi is the first to see him. He also has some awkward moments explaining things to Sugoroku as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! The final chapter. I hope you have all enjoyed this slight departure from my usual peachshipping stories.
> 
> Forgive any typos, as this is a bit hot off the press. I usually write up the chapters and then edit, but it was so hot this week and I was so busy, that I just did not get around to doing it, until today!
> 
> A big reminder that I do not, and never will own Yugioh. But if I did...? Oh, the possibilities!

It had taken nearly thirty minutes to walk from Kaiba's mansion to Yugi's place, but at last Kame Game was in sight. Thank goodness, because his feet were in agony.

Jonouchi rummaged in his girls bag for the cheap phone that Katsu had purchased for her own identity. Finding it, he scowled at the pink 'princess' case she had put it in – really?!

He wanted to dump the phone, handbag and its contents, the dress and shoes in the trash.

But, Anzu had loaned Katsu the bag, and the shoes and the dress had been lent to her by Mai. They would probably want them back.

Tapping on Yugi's name, he messaged his little spiky haired pal.

::::::::::::

Yugi was sitting in his pyjamas, playing cards at the dining table with his grandfather, when his phone buzzed with a message from Katsu. Or... wait! It wasn't from her.

Yugi's eyes went wide and he gasped. "Jonouchi!" He stood up from the table so quickly he saw stars.

His grandfather was looking at him with concern. "I thought you said he was staying with his mother. Has something happened?"

Shaking his head, Yugi hastily replied. "Not quite. I'm not sure. She... He's outside." He ran out of the kitchen and rushed down the stairs to unlock the door.

Looking around outside, he spotted Jonouchi coming towards him. He was hobbling across the road, clutching what looked like a bundle of clothing and a handbag. "Jonouchi!" Yugi called out, running towards him. "Are you okay?" He tentatively looked him up and down. He certainly did not look happy, but at least he was Jonouchi.

"I'll fucking kill Kaiba next time I see him," the blonde boy grumbled in response.

Yugi's chin dropped in horror. Had Kaiba hurt Katsu once he had found out the truth of who she was? "What did he do to you? You're limping! He didn't do something, did he..?" Yugi's voice was so shaky and full of worry, that Jonouchi thought he was overreacting. But then he wondered if Yugi was worried that Jonouchi might have returned while Katsu and Kaiba were having sex.

The thought of that made him feel ill. "What the fuck are you assuming Yugi! We weren't doing that! We were playing tennis on an old Atari when I changed back. We had a bit of an argument and he gave me these fucking silly clothes to wear and stupid shoes that kill my feet. Look!" He lifted one foot to show Yugi his heel, all red raw and bleeding.

Yugi was relieved he had not found himself in Kaiba's bed when he changed back, but he was still concerned for his friend. "You had better come inside and get those feet cleaned up," he frowned.

Nodding, Jonouchi leant on his friend and Yugi helped him hobble towards the house. As soon as they were inside, Jonouchi pulled off the offending shoes.

"Why didn't you take them off before and walk barefoot?" Yugi enquired.

Jonouchi felt stupid. He hadn't thought of that! "Cuz I have sensitive feet, and didn't want to step on a stone or any glass," he scowled. That was no lie.

Neither of them gave a second thought to the fact that Jonouchi was still wearing make-up – all be it smudged – and ill fitting, unfamiliar style clothing.

Walking into the kitchen, Yugi asked his grandfather for the first aid kit. However, Sugoroku was looking at Jonouchi with a somewhat bemused expression.

"Is that make-up you are wearing my lad?"

"What?!" Jonouchi rubbed his hand over his face and groaned when foundation, mascara and blue eyeshadow rubbed off onto it. "Crap! I forgot I had this stuff on."

"And, are those Seto Kaiba's clothes?" He raised an eyebrow.

Jonouchi squirmed and so did Yugi. The two boys grimaced at each other,

"How'd you know that Gramps?!" Jonouchi whined. He was screwed, for sure. Yugi's grandfather was smirking at him like he knew some sort of dirty little secret.

Sugoroku winked at him. "It's okay my boy. Your secret is safe with me." He scratched his beard, thoughtfully. "Although, I have to say, I am very surprised. Is that ladies clothing in your arms? You did not strike me as being a transvestite."

At his grandfather's observations, Yugi's chin hit the floor, while Jonouchi went red in the face, and threw the bundle of ladies attire onto the floor like it had burned him.

"I'm not!" He screamed, desperately.

"How do you even know that Jonouchi is wearing Kaiba's clothes, Grandpa?" Yugi was keen to find out.

Meanwhile, Jonouchi had slumped onto a chair, despairingly.

"Well," Sugoroku continued. "It's not hard to tell. Firstly, they are too long in the limb on you. Secondly, I don't know of anyone else who wears such expensive designer clothing. And thirdly, the shirt has SK embroidered on the collar."

Sneering in disgust, Jonouchi pulled the collar of the shirt outwards so that he could peer down at the embroidering. He glanced up at Yugi, who shrugged and looked sheepish.

"I didn't notice," Yugi admitted.

Sugoroku chuckled. "I am willing to bet those clothes are from Sartoria Ciccio too."

Yugi was impressed. "Wow! How'd you know that Grandpa?"

Sugoroku grinned at him smugly. "I have seen Seto Kaiba coming out of their shop on more than one occasion. The shop is opposite the bank I use to pay in the takings."

Jonouchi rolled the waistband of the trousers over so that he could peer at the label. Sure enough, they were indeed made by Sartoria Ciccio. "Kaiba doesn't want them back. Told me to burn them."

Sugoroku laughed. "If I were you, I would sell them. Pardon the pun, but clothes like that cost an arm and a leg! They still look to be in perfect condition too."

"Dunno if I can be bothered," Jonouchi sighed so despondently that Sugoroku shot his grandson a concerned look. "Would either of you like to tell me what has actually been going on?" The boys were hiding something, he could tell, and he intended to get to the bottom of whatever it was.

Yugi did not know how to respond. He knew his grandfather was going to want to know everything. But it was not up to him to disclose that for the past month, Jonouchi had been Katsu. "I think I will go and get the first aid kit for you Jonouchi," he quickly said, scurrying off to the bathroom.

Jonouchi cringed. Yugi had bailed and the old man was waiting on him for some sort of explanation. And he had not wanted anyone outside his close circle of friends to ever find out about it. "Do I have to?"

"Well, if you don't want me to think that you and Kaiba have been playing out some sort of bizarre sexual fantasy, then yes," he smirked.

"You really think.." Jonouchi went bright red and started spluttering, "-me and kaiba...are playing sex games?!"

Yugi was returning with the first aid kit and was just outside in the hall. All he heard was "-me and Kaiba are playing sex games." He let out a shriek of disgust and dropped the first aid kit all over the floor. Had Katsu and Jonouchi been lying about what had really been happening with Kaiba? He felt betrayed by his friend. He felt sick. "Jonouchi! Why?"

"Huh!" Jonouchi looked up in surprised at him standing in the doorway. Why had Yugi just thrown the contents of the first aid kit all over the hallway floor? And why was he glaring like that? "What's up Yuug?"

"Are you okay Yugi?" Sugoroku got up to help Yugi gather everything off, but Yugi waved him away.

"It's okay Grandpa! You will hurt your back again." He welcomed the distraction, and hastily began gathering up the medical contents he had dropped.

Jonouchi got up and went to help him. "You seem annoyed about something."

Yugi sighed and sat back on his haunches. "I heard what you just told Grandpa: something about you and Kaiba playing..." he cringed slightly, "-dirty games."

Jonouchi face planted and groaned. "Geez Yugi! Way to get the wrong idea! I was telling your Grandpa that we weren't doing any of that stuff!"

"Then what were you you doing with him?" Suguroku pressed.

"Nothing!" Jonouchi squeaked.

"Well, in that case," said Sugoroku, assertively. "How did you end up in his clothing, wearing make-up and carrying women's clothing? We will not judge you, but it will be easier for us to understand what you are going through, if you tell us."

"Grandpa!" Said Yugi, irritably. "It's embarrassing enough for Jonouchi as it is! Why can't you just leave him alone?"

Jonouchi sighed. "It's okay Yugi. I don't want Gramps to think I am gay or anything, so I might as well tell the truth." He looked at Sugoroku. "Can I trust you to never breathe a word of what I tell you to anyone?"

"Of course!" Sugoroku raised his hand in a salute. "Scouts honour!"

"Okay, well it all began when we went to Bakura's for his birthday, about a month ago. The evil spirit that lives in that ring he wears, put a spell on me. He changed me into a girl." There was stunned silence while Sugoroku took in what he had just been told.

But he did not laugh as Jonouchi had expected him to. Instead, he looked thoughtful and gave an understanding nod. "Nothing surprises me after what Pegasus did in order to obtain Yugi's item. When they fall into the wrong hands, the Millennium Items can be dangerous. And legend states that the Millennium Ring is the the most dangerous. But I still don't understand why you would choose to get close to Seto Kaiba after some of the things he has done?"

"Because I didn't have a choice!" Said Jonouchi, becoming animated.

Yugi gave him a severe look. "We did try to tell you it was not a good idea to date Kaiba, Jonouchi."

"Yeah, I know you did Yugi, and I should a listened. But I thought it would be fun to string him along and get him to spend money on me. Trouble was, I started to get pushed into the back of my mind more often, until I ended up shut away in what looked like my old bedroom from when I was a kid. When I eventually broke out, I was wearing that dress and was with Kaiba."

"But you weren't doing anything with Kaiba, right?" Yugi was still suspicious that Jonouchi was not telling him everything.

"No! I promise Yugi. Although, you should have seen Moneybags face when he thought he had been kissing Me." He had not wanted to let that slip!

"Kissing you?!" Yugi shrieked.

"I... Forget I said! I wasn't me! He was kissing Katsu, right before I changed back." He was so embarrassed that he started laughing. The truth was out, so he might as well play it like it was a joke.

"It is not funny," Sugoroku scowled. "Have you no shame? What if he decides to sue you?"

"Nah way! He wouldn't dare," said Jonouchi, his resolve crumbling. "You have to understand, it wasn't me he was kissing. I wasn't even aware what was happening because I was shut in my soul prison. But when I found a way out and changed back into me, Kaiba was so mortified that he was kissing a female version of me, that he went ape-shit and ordered me to never breathe a word to anyone. Which suits me just fine. The quicker I forget about it, the better." He still needed to rinse Kaiba's taste from his mouth.

Yugi was surprised that Jonouchi did not appear more traumatised by recent events. In fact, Yugi was sure that he was feeling worse than his friend! Maybe it was because Jonouchi just had not been aware of most of what had happened. He probably had no idea that Katsu and Honda had a massive falling out at the zoo, either!

Maybe it would be better if it stayed that way.

"I will let Anzu know you're back," said Yugi, grabbing his phone. "She will be worried when Katsu doesn't come home."

When his grandfather looked a bit confused, Yugi explained that Katsu had been staying with Anzu because there was no way she could go back to Jonouchi and his father's apartment.

"I see." Sugoroku scratched at his beard. "I must admit, I do feel a little hurt that I did not get to meet... Oh! I did meet her, didn't I?!" He looked at Jonouhci with a stunned expression. "My word, you came to the shop! I remember thinking what a very attractive young lady you are. You even made my heart race faster. I can see why Kaiba would want to date you."

"Grandpa!" Yugi blushed with embarrassment at his grandfather's admission. But then, hadn't he found Katsu attractive too? He hoped that Jonouchi would not remember it.

If he did, he didn't say anything, and instead focussed on Sugoroku's admission.

"Ha! Thanks a lot Gramps! I bet you all wish she was still here instead of me, don't ya?" Jonouchi tried to sound like he was teasing, but a hint of insecurity laced his voice. What if they did prefer Katsu?

"No!" Yugi quickly responded. "We would never wish that. I'm pleased you're back Jonouchi."

"Yeah, well, whatever." Pretending not to care, Jonouchi shrugged.

Yugi looked at him. He saw through the bravado but chose not to pursue it. "We should tell Honda and Mai. Maybe Bakura too," he said, changing the subject.

"Can you let me deal with Honda?" Although Jonouchi was asking, it was more of a statement than a request. "Only... I know he had problems with me being a girl."

Nodding, Yugi readily agreed.

::::::::::::

Anzu was stunned when Yugi told her that Jonouchi had returned. But thinking about it, she knew she should not really be all that surprised, because a month was now almost up.

"How is he doing?" Her main worry was that Jonouchi might be traumatised by the whole experience.

"He seems pretty much okay," Yugi replied, still slightly bemused by his pal's attitude. "I don't think he really remembers anything after the first week."

"Oh! Well, that's good, I suppose. Where is he staying tonight? I don't think he can come back here now he's...male again." She felt a bit mean. It implied that Jonouchi was unwelcome, but the truth was; her parents would not allow a boy they did not know, to sleep in their house.

Luckily, Yugi had the answer. "He's going to stay here tonight. We can all meet up here at nine thirty tomorrow morning if that's okay with everyone?"

"Yes, I would like that Yugi. Do you want me to call Mai and let her know? What about Honda and Bakura?"

"If you let Mai know and we will call Bakura and Honda."

Anzu chuckled. "Good luck with those two. I hope Honda is pleased, and that the bad Bakura doesn't take it out on our Bakura."

"Don't worry. I can handle them." The confidence in his voice made Anzu feel warm and tingly.

::::::::::::

Bakura was silent for a moment before responding. When he spoke it was with his usual politeness, and he sounded genuinely relieved.

Still thinking about Anzu's concerns, Yugi found himself worrying that the spirit would not be as pleased that Jonouchi was back as everyone else was, and would take his anger out on Ryou.

However, Ryou was quick to point out that the spirit probably did not care enough to do anything more than he already had. The whole thing had only been done as a joke and as a way to try and provoke a response from the spirit inside Yugi's Puzzle. He had achieved that, and Ryou admitted to Yugi that he now sensed that the Ring was now biding it's time.

Yugi was not sure what he meant by that, but the call was not really about dealing with Bakura next time the Ring decided to do something. It was merely to inform Bakura that Jonouchi was back, and apart from a couple of blisters on his heels, was unharmed.

"We're all meeting up here at the game shop, at nine thirty tomorrow morning, if you would like to come?" Yugi put out the invite to Ryou, but the teen often did not mix very well. He might also feel too embarrassed about facing Jonouchi again. But Yugi hoped he would come.

"Oh! Well... thank you Yugi." There was a hesitancy in his voice. "I will see if I wake up in time. Only, I tend not to sleep too well lately and can't always wake up in the mornings."

"Okay," Yugi nearly let out an exasperated sigh. He could feel his other Self listening to the conversation and he knew the spirit was finding his frustration with Bakura amusing. "Well, if it helps at all, Jonoucchi is not mad at you Bakura. He wants you to know that. So, if you can make it tomorrow, it would be great."

"Thank you Yugi. I might see you tomorrow. Goodbye." The tiredness in his voice was evident and Yugi took that as a hint that the conversation was over. He said goodbye and hoped that Bakura would get a good night, and did not have to deal with any grief the Ring might give him.

"You dealt with that well Aibou," Yami Yugi spoke through their mind link, once the call was ended.

"Yeah, thanks Other Me." Yugi replied through their link. " I hope he's going to be alright. He always sounds so lonely and depressed. It's like he's being drained of all his energy."

"Yes, I sense that there is a great evil inside the Ring. But I do not yet understand what it is."

"Hmm.." Yugi hummed thoughtfully, gaining the attention of his grandfather. "Oh!" He laughed. "I was just thinking about something." His attention quickly turned to Jonouchi, who had finished scrubbing his face in the kitchen sink and was now walking back to the dining table, face all red from where he had been rubbing.

He picked up his pink phone and grimaced at it. "Don't you dare laugh at my phone! But I'm not wasting the credit it still has on it."

Up until that moment, Sugoroku had not really noticed, but now he did. He chuckled. "I think it suits you," he teased.

Grumbling, Jonouchi called Honda and waited for him to answer. It went to voicemail. "Crap!" Jonouchi snapped, not realising it was recording. "Meh, stupid asshole! Answer your phone will ya?" He hit end call. "What?!" He looked at Yugi and Sugoroku with a bemused expression.

"I think you just left that as a message on his voicemail," Yugi informed him.

Jonouchi looked a bit shocked and then snickered. "Serves the idiot right, for not answering."

"I will make us some tea, while you sort out those blisters," Sugoroku suggested.

::::::::::::

Honda was busy cleaning his motorcycle when he heard his phone ring. His hands were too oily, so he scowled at it and let it ring until it stopped ringing and went to voicemail.

Grabbing a rag, he wiped his hands and went over to the bench to see who the missed call was from.

He huffed when he saw it was from Katsu. What did she want? She appeared to have left a voicemail message.

Not wishing to have any further disagreements with her, he decided to listen to the voicemail message

When he heard the familiar voice of his best friend, he nearly choked on his tonsils. "Jonouchi?!" Did that mean his old buddy was back?

With shaky hands, he dialled.

Jonouchi was still soaking his feet in a small bowl when his phone rang. It was the first time he had actually heard the ring tone that Katsu had chosen. It sounded like fairies singing! Jonouchi glared at it momentarily.

Although he had heard the ringtone previously, Yugi could not contain his snicker. His friend's face was a picture.

Growling, Jonouchi snatched it up and quickly answered. "Yo! Where ya been buddy?"

"Where have I been?!" Came Honda's shocked reply. "I should be asking you that! Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Been a rough month, but I'm good thanks."

"Where are you? When did you return?" Honda had hundreds of questions he wanted to ask, but stopped at two. He did not want to overload Jonouchi's tiny brain.

"I'm at Yugi's. I returned earlier this evening. It was a bit awkward," he snickered at the thought of Kaiba's horrified reaction. "But worth it cuz I really pissed off Moneybags."

"That's not funny! You could have ended up in serious trouble if things got out of control."

"But it didn't, and now here I am. Good as New!"

"Yeah, right... I'm coming over to Yugi's"

"No need! It's getting late and I think Yugi and Gramps need their beds. I'm staying here tonight, so you can come over at nine thirty tomorrow."

Honda grunted, and agreed. He just hoped that his friend had not suffered any permanent after-effects following his month as a girl.

::::::::::::

Jonouchi slept fitfully on the futon Yugi had put out for him, but he woke up early. It felt good to be back in his proper body. But as he lay on his back, protectively cupping his hands over his manhood, and gazed up at the darkened ceiling, he found himself thinking of Katsu. He remembered nothing of the last week and a half, and the week before was patchy. He tried to think when Katsu had started to emerge from his soul and take over, and if he had ever even been aware of her being a separate person from himself.

He could not recall her as such, but it was possible she had always existed as a tiny part of his soul; so minute, that he was not even aware of her. Maybe she had now gone back to that tiny place inside his soul. But somehow, he felt that her tiny place was now slightly larger than it had been before he was turned into her, because he was feeling more empathy towards girls than he once did. It was as though he understood girls better and understood what it was they needed from a man.

He smiled to himself. That could only mean one thing: he would be an awesome lover!

The End.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and supporting my work. Without my readers giving such lovely and constructive feedback, I would have given up writing long ago. You inspire me!

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea what subject Miss Chono actually teaches as I don't think it was ever mentioned. I chose geography for her, but if anyone knows differently, please feel free to inform me.


End file.
